The Tall Man
by randomirony
Summary: Modern AU. FBI Agent Arthur Pendragon is sent to a small New England town to investigate a string of mysterious kidnappings. Assigned to work with him is local officer Merlin Emrys. But there's something strange about this case and the more they find out, the more they realize something is very wrong. Something... supernatural. (Arthur/Merlin)
1. Prologue

Hello, I've long wanted to try a Merlin horror-type story, and as I'm rather fond of the idea of Slenderman, I thought it might be interesting to combine the two. I did a little research to hopefully make the story more realistic, so some things are an amalgamation of both real places/sources and fictional. However, due to my lack of familiarity with British geography and crime dramas, it will be set in the United States.

As a warning, I'm kind of just writing whenever I get the urge to do so in my free time, so I can't guarantee regular updates or that I'll even finish the story, though of course I'll do my best to not leave people hanging. But if you get frustrated by infrequent updates, you may want to back out now. Read at your own risk.

* * *

**Prologue**

**Richmond Times-Dispatch**

**Sunday, June 8, 2014**

Fourth kidnapping has locals distraught

_Residents of Burke have been shaken by the news of the disappearance of seven-year-old Scott Stilinski. The young boy was discovered missing from his bed the morning of June 3 by his parents, John and Cara Stilinski, who called the police after being unable to find him in their home. "We weren't too scared at first," John Stilinski shared with us, "since he sometimes sleepwalks, and we usually find him sleeping somewhere in another room. But this time, we just couldn't find him anywhere, even outside." Police reports say that there were no signs of forced entry or exit, and a search of the surrounding area was conducted with no results._

_ This is the fourth incident of a missing child in 2014, and police suspect that the incidents are not unrelated. However, no clues have been found regarding either the identity of the perpetrator or the location of the missing children, and residents of Fairfax County continue to grow frightened and upset by these incidents._

* * *

For all the strange things Arthur had ever seen during his work with the FBI, he was not a superstitious man. He did not believe in spirits or bigfoot or that breaking a mirror would cause anything other than perhaps a few minor injuries and some broken glass to sweep up. There were no aliens hiding at Area 51, and no secret government agency overseeing it all. So of course, he didn't even dream that while investigating a supposedly straight-forward case of child abduction he'd come face to face with the paranormal.

It all started one morning in June.

He was in his office, pen scribbling hastily over the paperwork, with little regard for legibility. It was quite silent, aside from the scratching of pen on paper and the near-silent ticking of the clock. A knock sounded at the door, effectively disrupting the quiet.

The door opened before Arthur could respond and his superior sauntered in. "Pendragon," grunted Kil in brusque greeting. The older man dropped a file folder onto his desk. It landed with a heavy smacking sound, disturbing the other papers lying about. "Your new case," he announced. "I need you to go to Virginia."

Arthur frowned slightly. He had just finished tracking down a man charged with multiple cases of identity theft, so it seemed a bit soon to receive another case. He opened up the case folder to flip through the pages. The photos from several missing person reports stared up at him, all of them children, and all of them from around different parts of Fairfax County.

"Kidnapping? Shouldn't that be left to the local police?"

"It would be, if they were actually getting anything done. The fourth child has been abducted in the last five months, and the local authorities still don't have any leads." Kil leaned down over Arthur's desk, close enough that Arthur could smell the tobacco on his breath from his near-constant smoking. "Listen Pendragon, I know you're not the cuddly, kid-loving type, but you're a good agent and people are starting to get upset by this. I want the perpetrator caught as soon as possible, and I know you're the man for the job. I'm counting on you."

There was no getting out of it. Arthur nodded.

"Good man. It's close enough to drive, so you can take one of our cars if you like. Report back as soon as you find anything."

Having said what he came to say, Kil left as quickly as he came. He was not a man to waste any time.

Having received his orders, Arthur sighed and gathered up his things and, case file in hand, headed home to pack for his trip as well as he could, considering he never knew how long he'd be away. A few hours later, he was checking into a shabby little Virginia motel right off the freeway. While it wouldn't merit even a two-star rating, it had all the basics, and that was more than enough for him. He went out to grab a burger and a coffee from the diner across the street, then settled down to read through the pile of reports.

"Time to get to work," he muttered.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Fairfax County Police Department  
Missing Person Report  
File # 09-4793  
Date Reported: 2/17/2014  
Name of Missing Person: Andrew Sheffield  
Sex: Male  
Birthdate: 7/25/2007

Details of Incident: Was playing outside in backyard of home from about 16:00. First noticed missing around 18:00, when he did not come inside for supper when it got dark. Only one set of footprints found in snow in backyard, belonging to Andrew. Footprints did not leave the yard, nor return to the house.

Fairfax County Police Department  
Missing Person Report  
File # 09-4849  
Date Reported: 3/23/2014  
Name of Missing Person: Matthew Tanaka  
Sex: Male  
Birthdate: 4/3/2006

Details of Incident: At first assumed to be playing with friends, Matthew did not return home from school at the usual time (approx. 15:30). After being unable to contact him for several hours, parents called authorities at 18:42. Possibly related, parents report that Matthew had told them about "a tall man in a suit" that came to their house at night, but they had dismissed it as nightmares.

Fairfax County Police Department  
Missing Person Report  
File # 09-4882  
Date Reported: 5/10/2014  
Name of Missing Person: Maria Vasquez  
Sex: Female  
Birthdate: 4/15/2008

Details of Incident: Maria was playing in her front yard with her mother, Nina Vasquez. Her mother went inside to answer the phone. Approximately 10 minutes later she returned to find her daughter missing. After searching the neighborhood, she called authorities at 13:19.

Fairfax County Police Department  
Missing Person Report  
File # 09-4931  
Date Reported: 6/3/2014  
Name of Missing Person: Scott Stilinski  
Sex: Male  
Birthdate: 12/7/2006

Details of Incident: Scott was missing from his bed with no signs of forced entry or exit around the house. Also no indication of struggle, but no items were missing from the room. History of sleepwalking; parents first searched nearby areas. They called authorities at 8:22.

* * *

Outside was dark, aside from the orange glow of the street lights, each with its own small posse of moths and other nighttime insects fluttering about. The motel parking lot was empty except for his car and one other, no signs of life or movement aside from the occasional breeze that disturbed the trees and the distant cars on the freeway. All in all, a lonely little corner of Virginia.

Arthur Pendragon didn't much care where he was, as long as he had work to do. He was up late into the night, poring over the files and information relating to the cases that had already been accumulated. The basic facts were easily ascertainable. All of the victims were young children between the ages of six and eight, and all of them lived within the county of Fairfax. Arthur had already pinned a map to the wall, marking the locations where each individual kidnapping supposedly occurred. There didn't seem to be any noticeable pattern, but he noted that all of the spots were fairly rural and close to forest areas, which implied that the kidnapper could possibly be using the forest as cover to escape with the children undetected.

During each case, he knew that the surrounding forest area had been searched for signs of the child, but he wondered if they made any note of hints of other people who had been through there who may have been disregarded, hikers or fishermen, et cetera. He imagined it would be fairly easy to park a truck near the forest under the cover of going hiking, then overpower a small child long enough to bring them back through the woods and to the truck.

He made a note to look up all the popular spots for forest recreation and see where they were in relation to the kidnappings.

Of course, that still left many questions. He couldn't explain how a boy could be taken from a snow-covered yard without leaving any tracks. And if the kidnapper had been wearing a suit like Matthew had supposedly seen, it would stand out quite a bit in the forest.

Arthur stretched and looked at his phone. 3:05 AM the digital numbers told him. He would stop there for the night and get some rest.

He was just piling all the papers together in a way that he'd be able to sort them out again later, when the phone on his nightstand began to ring. He jumped in surprise. It was an older phone, and rather than a digital beeping, it made a loud, shrill ringing that cut through the still, nighttime quiet like a siren. He hoped there was no one in the room next door, because the sound was loud enough that it would have surely awoken them.

He grabbed the receiver and put it to this ear, ready to rant at whoever could possibly be calling him at this time of night. If it was someone at reception he would definitely be having a few words with the management.

"Hello?"

There was nothing but static on the other end.

"Hello? Hello, who is this?"

Still nothing. He listened carefully for even the sound of people moving in the background. Nothing.

He hung up the phone. Arthur looked at it a moment, before shaking his head, baffled. He needed some sleep. He could make a complaint about the phone to the staff later.

* * *

"Agent Arthur Pendragon," he said, as he flashed his badge to the sleepy receptionist at the local P.D. It was barely 8 o'clock—he got up early that morning, despite his late night, and performed his usual morning ritual. A shower, a shave, then got dressed in a well-cut suit. Many other agents didn't care what sort of suit they wore, but Arthur could admit to himself that he'd always been a little vain and it never hurt to look well put-together when he was on the job. It looked like it was worth it, as the receptionist was looking rather impressed, eyeing him up and down.

"How can I help you, Agent Pendragon?" she asked. She had dark, smooth skin and curly hair tied back into a neat bun. Her name tag read simply "Smith."

"Well, Miss Smith, I'm here to look into the recent kidnappings that have been occurring. I would like to meet with your department manager to get some background on the case."

"That would be me," said a new voice.

Arthur turned to see an older, balding man who looked as though he could go into retirement any day. But in spite of his seeming fragility, his eyes were clear, his gaze strong, and revealed years of experience on the job.

"I'm Greg Pellinore. Old Kil called me yesterday. I've been expecting you." To the receptionist he said, "Gwen, could you tell Merlin to see me when he gets back?" Then he turned to Arthur and beckoned him down the hallway. "Come. Let's talk in my office."

Arthur followed the older man down the hall and into a small room. He closed the door behind him.

"Take a seat," Pellinore said with a wave to the chair in front of his desk. He sat down behind his desk and started pulling together some papers. "To be honest, I'm glad you're here. We've been trying to solve this case for months now, and we don't have even a single lead. My officers are getting discouraged, the public is getting scared, and I think we could use a fresh mind to look over everything. Hopefully you'll spot something we've missed. Kil tells me good things about you." He handed several thick folders over to Arthur.

"I'm grateful for the cooperation. Most officers don't like it when the feds get involved." Arthur flipped through the folders, taking in as much as he could at a glance. "Is this all you have on the case?"

"Unfortunately, yes. We've accumulated a large amount of information about the kids and their families and the areas from which they were taken, but we still have no idea how, why, or by whom they were taken. It's as if the children vanished into thin air." The older police officer rubbed at his face tiredly. "The worst part is the fact that we're almost sure it will happen again, and we currently have no way of preventing it."

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Pellinore called.

The door opened to reveal a young, dark-haired officer, probably around the same age as Arthur. He glanced at Arthur and then looked to his superior. "I apologize if I'm interrupting something. You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Agent Arthur Pendragon, Officer Merlin Emrys," Pellinore said by way of introduction. "Merlin here has worked the most closely on this case, and he grew up around this area. He can tell you just about anything you want to know and help you get around."

Arthur wasn't too keen on working with anyone else, but he admitted that the man could be useful, at least for now. He nodded his thanks. "Is that everything?"

"For now, yes. Merlin will keep me updated and vice versa. I'll let him know if any of our other officers find out anything."

It was annoying, but he couldn't complain about the police doing their jobs. "Thanks again for your cooperation." With a nod, he stood and left the room, not bothering to check if the officer was following him or not. When they got outside to the parking lot and Arthur began to walk towards his car, the other man spoke up.

"We could take one of the police cars, if you'd like. Since I know the area, it might be better if I drive," he offered.

Arthur snorted. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be as inconspicuous as possible while investigating the case. Which means an inconspicuous vehicle." He cast a glance at Emrys's police uniform. "And it would be great if you could ditch the uniform."

He unlocked the driver's side door and climbed in while the officer sputtered. He started the car without warning and Emrys dashed to the other side to get in before he drove off.

"Hang on just as second," he said, indignant, even as he struggled with his seat belt. "I know you fancy feds look down on us regular officers, but there's no need to be rude. We're on the same side, working towards the same objective."

Arthur sighed. "I apologize for my bluntness. But I have much more training and experience and in the long run, you're only going to slow me down."

Emrys glared. "If that's what you think, why bother to work with the police at all?"

"Because I do admit that cooperating with the local authorities is the best way to get background information. You know the layout of the area, the geography, the people, something that I can't learn in just a few days." Arthur glanced at his passenger to see that he was not appeased, but he didn't have the time to soothe the officer's bruised ego. "Now, if you would be so kind as to point me in the direction of the first victim's home. And seriously, can you do something about your uniform?"

Emrys reluctantly told him to make a right at the next stoplight and began shrugging out of his police vest.

"As if _you're_ going to blend in with that fancy suit," he muttered.

Arthur ignored him.

* * *

They pulled up in front of the house. It was a very simple two-story home. The neighborhood was fairly average, perfect for a lower-to-middle-income family. The yards were well-kept, cheerful, and it seemed like a safe enough area to raise children.

But no one was outside. Despite it being a beautiful, sunny day, there was not a hint of life; no one tending the yard or walking their dogs, no children playing, even though it was already summer vacation.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home," Emrys said, peering out the car window.

"Well, it can't hurt to have a look around, could it?" Arthur stepped out of the car and walked up to the porch.

It had been months since Andrew Sheffield had been taken from the house. He was only six years old. Assuming he was still alive, he'd be turning seven soon.

"We had a lot of snow this winter," Officer Emrys said from behind him. "Andrew was playing in his backyard. He'd made a snowman and his footprints were all over the place. But it was just the one set of prints, and they never left the yard. I saw for myself."

Arthur nodded. That was basically what had been written in the report. A few photos had been taken of the scene, but it was impossible to follow the tracks in the snow from the photos alone.

"Well, nonetheless, I'd like a look at the backyard for myself, and in the boy's room as well. Hopefully there's someone home who'll be willing to allow us inside."

He rang the doorbell. They could hear a distant, tinny ringing inside. They waited in silence for several long moments. A dirty little angel figure with a welcome sign sat forlornly by the doorstep.

"I guess no one's—"

"Can I help you?" The door had opened abruptly, almost angrily. A tired looking blond woman peeked out at them.

Emrys stepped agilely around Arthur, a soft, gentle expression on his face. "Hello, Mrs. Sheffield. You may remember me. I'm Officer Emrys with the Fairfax Police Department. This is Agent Pendragon from the FBI. He's been brought in specially to investigate what happened to your son and the other children who have gone missing these past few months."

Arthur also arranged his features into a visage of empathy and compassion and stepped forward next to Emrys. Part of the reason he was such a good agent is that he could charm answers out of even the most distraught or recalcitrant witnesses. "I know you've been through a lot already, but we were wondering if we might have a look around and ask you a few questions."

She eyed the two of them warily, but opened the door wider to let them in.

The house was a mess. It was clear that it hadn't been tidied in some time. Piles of junk and trash were shoved against the walls and piled into corners, dust was collecting on the surfaces of tables and shelves. From the small glance Arthur got of the kitchen, the dishes had not been washed in some time and piles of empty boxes from frozen ready-to-eat meals were stacked on the counter. She led them into what looked like the living room, pushing piles of laundry off the sofa to make space for them to sit. They did so gingerly, afraid of accidentally sitting on some misplaced knick knack or forgotten meal.

"Sorry, I haven't gotten around to cleaning this week," Mrs. Sheffield muttered, though the place had obviously been neglected for more than just a week. "I keep meaning to get to it, but then I become distracted, and…" She sighed.

"We don't mind," said Arthur. "I'd like to get straight to the questions, if that's alright. I won't waste too much of your time."

She nodded brusquely, giving the go-ahead.

He pulled a small Dictaphone from his pocket and placed it unobtrusively on the table, to record the conversation. "Now, Mrs. Sheffield. Andrew was playing in the backyard from approximately four in the afternoon, correct? And you noticed he was missing at about six?"

"Yes."

"When was the last time you actually saw him? Did he come inside for any reason, or did you go outside to check on him at all between four and six?"

"No… Wait, I do remember him coming in again for something."

"At what time was this? And why did he come in?"

"I… I don't remember. Maybe around four thirty? I didn't actually see him, but I heard him come in and go out again and I remember I was annoyed because he tracked snow into the house."

"So he may have disappeared anytime from around four thirty to six, after briefly returning to the house. Mrs. Sheffield, what was your son doing in the backyard?" Arthur asked.

"He was playing."

"Playing as in…?" He let his question hang in the air.

Mrs. Sheffield rubbed her hands together. "He's not a very outgoing child. I'm afraid he doesn't have too many friends, so he made up a friend."

"He has an imaginary friend?" Emrys clarified, speaking for the first time.

"Yes. He would go outside and talk to himself. I'd actually thought about taking him to a child psychologist, but my husband…" She paused. "My husband said he would grow out of it. He said to ignore it, to not pay too much attention to it."

Arthur nodded. "Alright. One more question then. You said he didn't have many friends, but what about adults? Are there any teachers, neighbors maybe, that he spends time with? And would anyone fit the description of 'a tall man in a suit?'"

Emrys shot him an unreadable look at that question, but Mrs. Sheffield didn't notice. She took a moment to think about her answer. "No, I can't think of anyone. Sorry."

"That's alright, you've provided me with a lot of information. If you don't mind, I'd like to have a look at the backyard and your son's room." He reached for his Dictaphone to stop the recording and put it away in his pocket once more.

"Of course," she nodded and stood up. "This way."

They followed her up a narrow staircase, down a hallway to a closed door.

"This is his room. Please excuse me, I don't really like going in there. It makes me think too much about—" She cut herself off with a sharp inhale that was almost a sob. The distraught young mother covered her mouth with one hand, as if she could hold back her worst fears.

Emrys put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's fine, we understand. We'll try to be as quick as we can."

"I'll just be downstairs," she said shakily. With that, she turned and headed quickly back the way they had come.

"She's almost lost hope," Arthur shook his head sadly.

"Which is why we have to find her son as soon as possible," Emrys said with conviction. He opened the door to the room and brushed past Arthur.

Arthur eyed him for a moment, watching the police officer as he surveyed the room. He had been there before for the initial investigation, but his clear blue eyes scanned the room intently, as if looking at it all anew, searching for clues he may have missed the first time. He was a dedicated officer, that much Arthur was willing to admit. He followed Emrys into the Andrew's room and closed the door quietly behind him, so that they might not be overheard.

The room itself looked completely different from the rest of the house. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, revealing that no one had been in the room for quite some time, which was a bit of relief, since Arthur knew he was probably looking at the room as it had more or less been the day Andrew disappeared. It was a bit messy, but not so much like it had been long-neglected as the messiness of a young boy who won't bother to pick up after himself without being told.

Arthur didn't see anything immediately suspicious. He went to the window to look out. It was a view of the backyard, and from the second story, he could also see a bit out into the forest beyond. More importantly, it was entirely probable that someone in the forest could probably see into the second story window.

"Pendragon." Arthur turned around quickly at the urgent tone in the officer's voice. It looked as though he'd been rummaging through the books and papers and random items on the boy's desk. He was staring at one paper in particular, unearthed from beneath a pile of colored pencils. "Come take a look at this."

Arthur moved to stand at the officer's shoulder, peering at what looked to be a drawing made by Andrew. With an unskilled hand, the words, "Me and my Best friend" had been written on the top. Beneath them were two scribbled figures, one smaller with brown hair and a smiley face. The other was a tall, dark figure with long limbs and no real face drawn in. But the alarming point was that the other figure looked as though he was wearing a suit.

"'A tall man in a dark suit,'" Emrys quoted.

Arthur sighed and rocked back on his heels. "Well I'll be damned." They were one step closer to finding the kidnapper.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

April 7, 2008 Fairfax County Police Recording

911 Public Records provided by the First Amendment Center

_Operator: 911, what's your emergency?_

_Caller: Hello… Yes, I'm. I'd like to report an accident._

_Operator: Okay, sir. Can you give me your name and location._

_Caller: My name is Daniel Keefer. I'm… I'm not too sure of my location. I'm on Compton Road._

_Operator: Are you near the elementary school?_

_Caller: I think so._

_Operator: Alright, Mr. Keefer, sit tight. I have an officer on the way. I'll stay on the line with you until they arrive. Can you tell me what happened?_

_Caller: Um. It was so strange. There was a man in the road. I swerved to avoid him, and now my car is stuck._

_Operator: Are you or the other man injured?_

_Caller: I think I'm okay. But the door is pinned and I can't get out. I don't know about the other guy._

_Operator: Can you describe the other man?_

_Caller: He was tall. Really tall, over six feet easily. And he was wearing a suit._

_Operator: What about facial features? _

_Caller: I don't—_

_(muffled noises and static)_

_Operator: Sir?_

_(line goes dead)_

* * *

"So we have a lead, though we can't exactly send out a search for a tall man wearing a suit," Arthur said.

They were back in the car, Arthur following Emrys's directions to the next house, the home of Matthew Tanaka, in order to investigate chronologically. They had taken a look around the backyard, but found nothing particularly amiss. Taking a child from there discreetly would be a bit of a stretch, but it wouldn't be impossible either. Arthur wished he could have seen Andrew's mysterious vanishing footprints for himself, but there was nothing he could do about that.

"But my question is, how can he be both the kidnapper and the imaginary friend?" asked Emrys.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Apparently, he's not as imaginary as they thought. Hopefully one of Matthew Tanaka's parents will have a bit more information. It said in the report that Matthew talked about the same thing before he disappeared."

The two of them had tried asking Mrs. Sheffield a bit more about Andrew's "imaginary friend," but she didn't know much. Following her husband's wishes, she had more or less ignored the subject and never asked Andrew any questions about it.

"Yes, but they'd dismissed it as nightmares," Emrys responded. "We did as well."

"A child goes missing, and you dismiss one of the biggest clues as a nightmare?!" Arthur cried in exasperation.

"Well, to be fair, the full description wasn't just 'a tall man in a suit,'" Emrys argued.

"Well, what was it then?"

"Apparently, Matthew told his parents that there was a tall spider man in a suit with eight tentacles that came out of his back watching him from the woods. That's not exactly the kind of lead we can follow up on."

Arthur bit back the derogatory retort that he wanted to say and instead focused on his driving again. Nothing good would come out of arguing with the local officer about the police force's past mistakes. "It's down this road?"

"Yeah, turn left," Emrys said, quiet and to-the-point.

They pulled into the empty driveway of a quaint little one-story home. It was smaller than the Sheffields's, and in a more rural area, meaning there were more trees, more hiding places all around. They got out of the car and closed the doors quietly. This time, there really was no answer when they knocked on the door. Only silence.

Arthur huffed, then looked around. "He disappeared on his way home from school, right? He was presumed to be walking home when he was taken."

Emrys nodded.

"Do you know how to get to his school from here? Could we walk the same path?"

Emrys shrugged and looked away. "Sure. It's not exactly complicated, though it's at least a thirty minute walk."

"Let's do that, then. We can drive to the school and then walk back this way."

Emrys didn't say anything, just walked back to the car. Arthur glanced at him discreetly, but the dark-haired officer was unreadable, his face impassive and serious. Still, Arthur couldn't help but feel as though he were hiding something.

They made it to the school, a small building that currently stood abandoned and deathly silent, with none of the students or teachers around to give it life. They parked in the empty lot and got out.

There was only one obvious way that Matthew could have gone home from there, which was a little path bordered by the road on one side and the forest on the other.

"Do children around here often walk home on their own? Even the younger ones?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah. Until now, there wasn't much reason not to let them. I used to walk home too. It's a safe area, only a little traffic, but it isn't exactly well-off. A lot of the families have two working parents, so it's hard for them to pick their kids up every day. In my case, I only had one parent, though. I always walked home, even in the winter. My mom felt bad, of course, but she did what she had to do. At least then, she never worried about me getting abducted."

Arthur gave a soft "hm" of acknowledgement. While he certainly knew what it was like to have a parent who was too busy working to do something as menial as picking his son up from school, his family had never struggled financially.

They walked along the road in silence for some time. They were disturbed only by the occasional passing of a car or the cawing of a crow. The trees loomed up on one side, too dark to see clearly, too dense to pass through. Arthur had thought that perhaps Matthew had used the woods as a shortcut, but now he realized that couldn't be the case.

Abruptly, a small footpath appeared, cutting its way through the trees.

"What's this?" Arthur asked.

"It's a short trail, about half a mile long. It doesn't go anywhere, though. We searched it when Matthew first went missing and didn't find anything," Emrys explained.

Always preferring to see things for himself, Arthur hopped down onto the trail and began pressing deeper into the woods. A quick backwards glance told him that Emrys was following behind him. Then he turned his attention forward again, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that could be related to the case. It had already been several months since Matthew had gone missing, and if the police had already searched the area like Emrys said, the chance of him finding anything was incredibly slim. But for some reason, his instincts were telling him that he was on the right path.

His instincts had never let him down before.

The deeper they went, the darker it became. The trees blocked out a lot of the sunlight, making it hard to see. He couldn't imagine a small child coming down this way on their own, but it wouldn't be a bad place to hide.

Eventually, the path ended in a small clearing. There were no other ways out other than the way from which they'd come, and no signs of anyone having pushed their way through the dense forest surrounding the area. Arthur was about to give up and turn around when the Emrys suddenly moved around him.

"Look. This wasn't here before," he stated, gesturing to a paper that was stuck to a tree.

Arthur almost hadn't spotted the small, loose sheet of paper. It looked like someone had torn it hastily from a notebook and wrote on it in scratchy, messy writing.

"'Always watches. No eyes,'" Arthur read aloud. In the middle of the paper was a messy circle with two X marks on it, resembling something like a crude drawing of a face. "What the hell does that mean?"

The other man shrugged, but looked uneasy. "A prank, maybe?"

Arthur pulled it off the tree and folded it so that he could put it in his pocket.

"You're taking it?"

"Just in case. It's probably just some stupid joke, like you said, and if that's the case, we can always throw it out later."

"Arthur Pendragon. Cleaning up Virgina's forests one paper at a time," Emrys deadpanned.

"Haha," he said sarcastically. "Come on, let's get back to the road and finish the sweep. Maybe one of the Tanakas will be back when we get there."

* * *

As it turns out, one of the Tanakas was home, but they were unable to gain any more information than they already had. Even pressing for more information about Matthew's supposed nightmares had proven futile.

"_We just thought he'd been watching too many scary shows on the television," Mr. Tanaka had told them tiredly. "Some nights he would come to wake us up, saying that a tall man in a suit was scaring him. He said that he watched him from the forest, grew tentacles, and told him to come outside. We would look out his window, of course, but there was never anything there that we could see."_

"_How often did this occur?" Arthur asked._

"_He woke us up two separate nights, but I don't know if there were nights when he saw the man and didn't tell us about it."_

"_Well, thank you for your time. We're working hard to find the children."_

That was over an hour ago.

Now, they were sitting in a booth at Denny's, both with plates of food and hot mugs of coffee in front of them.

"So, Emrys," Arthur started.

"Merlin," he interrupted.

"Pardon?"

"Just Merlin is fine. There aren't many people who call me by my last name."

"Alright. Merlin. What are your thoughts on the case overall?"

"Oh, so you want my opinion now? I thought all your training and experience meant you were above us lowly police officers."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Don't be a smartass. I'm sorry for my attitude earlier, alright? Let's just say that I've been stuck with officers who were even more useless than you."

Merlin squinted at him. "I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult."

Arthur grinned. "A bit of both? Now, can you answer my original question?" He took a bite of the burger in front of him, watching the officer thoughtfully as he chewed. Now that Arthur knew Merlin wasn't one of those useless lackeys there to throw off the feds while the police tried to close the case first, most of his animosity had fallen away.

This was the first time he had really had the chance to study the officer. He was slightly taller than Arthur, but Arthur had a broader build. He was muscled, not obviously so, like Arthur was, but definitely strong enough at least to perform his officer duties. He was of a thin and lanky build, more streamlined with long limbs, probably a fast runner, if Arthur had to guess. He had bright blue eyes and quite a striking face, prominent cheekbones that were only highlighted when he grinned, which he seemed to do fairly often—at Arthur when he cracked a joke at his expense, at their waitress, at a little baby who was staring at them from the next table over.

It was easy to tell that Merlin had become a police officer out of his genuine desire to help people, and not for any perceived glory or adventure. Arthur couldn't dislike those sorts of people.

"Well, it's definitely the worst incident that's occurred since I joined the force," Merlin started. "It's hard to comprehend how or why the kidnapper is doing this. Why these children? Why now? Is it another member of our community? I'd like to think that the children are still alive somewhere, being held captive, maybe out of state. But we don't know, do we? And what's worse is we don't know if it's over or if he'll strike again. On the one hand, we can't let another child fall victim, but on the other, if he's done doing whatever it is he's doing, we may never find him." Merlin was resting an elbow on the table, leaning the weight of his head in his hand. Arthur realized that the weight of this case was really bearing down on him, and had been all these past months.

"Well. No need to worry. I'm here now, so we'll get everything cleared up soon enough," he tried to joke.

Merlin smiled weakly. "I hope so." He turned to look out the window and took a sip of his coffee. The sky was bright and clear, the temperature pleasant and bearable, a few people outside walking past the Denny's windows. But he wore the same dark expression he had earlier in the forest.

"Merlin."

The dark-haired man turned back at Arthur's lower, serious tone of voice. "Hm?"

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Merlin's expression went immediately from dark to pained and defensive. "It's probably nothing. Pellinore told me to disregard it, in any case. He said it'll just send us off on a wild goose chase."

"I'll be the judge of that. What is it?"

Merlin looked around warily, discreetly, but there were no other customers sitting near enough to hear, and all of them were absorbed in their own meals or conversations.

"Well. Something my uncle said to me had been bothering me, so I went and did a bit of research." He leaned forward. "It turns out, this isn't the first case of serial kidnappings in Fairfax County. Four children went missing in the early '80's and the culprit in those cases was never discovered either. The children are still missing to this day. No bodies found, nothing."

"You think it's related?"

"I can't say with any certainty, but the incidents are too similar to disregard, don't you think?"

Arthur nodded. "Can you get your hands on the old case files?"

The grin from before was back. "Of course. A friend of mine works in the Records Annex."

"Could you do it by this evening? I could drop you off at the station again and you could meet me at my motel room later."

Merlin tilted his head in consideration. "Should be doable. As long as he's there."

"Great." He downed the rest of his coffee, now gone cold, and stood up. "Then let's pay for this shit and get out of here."

* * *

It was nearing five o'clock when Merlin showed up at his room. He had a box full of files in his arms.

"Well, the secret agent life certainly isn't as glamorous as it is in the movies, huh?" he said, taking in the small room, lumpy bed, and furniture that looked as if it had been there since the '80's. It probably had.

"At least it has internet. You managed to get all the files?" Arthur asked, taking the box from Merlin.

"Like I said, my friend works there. He handles all the cold case storage." Merlin took in the map of the area, all the marked off places and notes pinned to the wall. He raised an eyebrow, seemingly impressed.

"Let's get to work then. Find out where each of these children were living and pin the location on the map using the green pins to see where they were in correlation to the recent cases, the red pins. Make note of all the similarities and all the differences."

Merlin rolled his eyes and gave a mock salute. "Yes sir, Agent Pendragon, sir." He pulled out the first folder in the box and settled himself down on the floor where he could spread everything out.

Arthur resisted the urge to chuckle. The officer was growing on him. The blond man grabbed a file himself, and sat down on the bed, before what Merlin just said got through to him. He twisted around to look at him again. "Merlin?"

The officer looked up.

"Just call me Arthur."

* * *

Arthur's eyes were beginning lose focus from staring down at the papers for too long. He rolled his neck and blinked a few times. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Merlin stretch as well, reaching his arms above his head, pulling his shirt up just a bit, revealing a sliver of skin at the small of his back. He shook his head. It had been too long since he'd been with anyone, but he couldn't let himself get distracted now, just because he was tired.

He glanced at the clock. It was already after eight, and the two of them had been reading through the case details for several hours. They couldn't stop though. He was sure that they were on the right track. Several new pins had joined the old ones on the wall, revealing that many of them were from the same general areas, and in one case, even the same neighborhood. From what he'd read, the children had disappeared under similar circumstances, quietly and inconspicuously, without the parents even realizing they were gone until later.

Still, his stomach rumbled, reminding him that some things couldn't be ignored.

"Hey," he said, breaking the silence. "I'm gonna order a pizza or something. You want anything?"

"Sure. Whatever is fine."

"Pineapple and anchovy, it is."

"Uh-huh," Merlin said, distracted. He was still reading through some papers, his brow furrowed.

Arthur grinned. He should really order something weird, just to tease Merlin for not listening. "You know, I admire your work ethic, but you can take a break, you know."

There was no answer. Merlin flipped a page and kept reading.

"Merlin?"

"I think you should take a look at this, Arthur," was the reply he got.

He stepped forward, all jokes set aside. "What is it?"

"This case goes back even farther than we thought. The officer in charge of finding the missing children in 1981 put together a list of all the past cases of unsolved missing children's reports in the area around Fairfax County. Two brothers went missing in '66, which is noted as possibly unrelated, but between 1953 and 1954, six children were declared missing and never found. In 1934, twenty years earlier, four children went missing. There's even a case recorded in 1909, when four children were supposedly kidnapped by a man called Jeff Sheppard, but he'd claimed innocence until the end and the children were never found. The last note says 1882 and the number five, so I'm assuming that means five children, but there aren't any details."

The wheels were turning in Arthur's head. "So… what? A cult? A child smuggling ring? If it's been going on this long, it's obviously not the work of a single man."

"I'm not so sure."

"Merlin, how can one man possibly be responsible for children who went missing over a century ago?"

Merlin had his head in his hands, his fingers curled around tufts of hair. He was muttering something to himself, and Arthur was slightly worried.

"Hey, don't freak out on me. I know it's a lot to tackle, but we—"

"It's not that." Merlin looked up at him, eyes pleading with Arthur to listen.

Arthur tilted his head, staring at Merlin in consideration for a moment. "There's something else, isn't there? Something else that you're not telling me."

Merlin started to rearrange papers in a move that was obviously more to do with settling his nerves than tidying up the notes. "I didn't want to bring it up. It was so stupid that I didn't even think anything of it at first. But the more I learn about this case, the more things start fitting together. They make sense in a way they shouldn't."

"Merlin, you're going to have to help me out here, 'cause I really have no clue what you're talking about."

"Have you ever heard of Slenderman?" he asked abruptly.

Arthur paused. "I… can't say that I have."

"He's a myth. Or an urban legend, more like. It got circulating on the internet and became pretty popular around areas like this with lots of forest land. When the children started disappearing, a lot of the older kids started to spread rumors that it was the Slenderman who was doing it. I think they started saying it as a joke at first, but as time went on and more kids disappeared, I think they even started to take it seriously."

"Okay," said Arthur hesitantly, still obviously confused. "I'll bite. Who is 'Slenderman?'"

"Slenderman is supposedly a very tall and slender man—thus the name—who dresses either all in black or in a black suit, but he has no face. Sometimes he has tentacles, sometimes he doesn't. But because he's so tall and thin, he blends in with trees very well. Supposedly he stalks his victims, usually small children, watching them from afar and following them for days before he takes them. No one knows what he does with them afterwards."

"I admit, it does sound a lot like our case. But you can't think that's what's actually happening, do you? I mean, it's much more probable that Matthew knew about this Slenderman, and then when a real tall man in a suit started following him, his mind combined fantasy and reality."

"That's not the only thing though," Merlin said. "Like I said, I dismissed it at first, myself."

"Then why the change of tune?" Arthur crossed his arms.

"Because this was also in the case folder."

Merlin held up a piece of paper. At first, Arthur wasn't sure what was so significant about it, but then it clicked. He pulled out the paper that he'd taken from the forest earlier that day and put them side by side. The one in Merlin's hand had yellowed a bit with age, but it was still clear that it was the same sort of paper, ripped out in exactly the same way. It had writing on it in the same scribbly handwriting. Only this time, it had a crude illustration of a stick figure man next to a tree and one word. _Follows_.

* * *

No reviews so far, but a couple of follows, so hopefully some people are enjoying the story? Also, if anyone's played the Slenderman online game (it's free to download!), I'm sure you recognize some of the clues I've dropped in there. ;)


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Fairfax Herald **

**Tuesday, 19 October, 1981**

Horror continues: third child missing

_Members of our Virginia community suffered another tragic loss as little Peggy Anderson, only six years old, was discovered missing from her room this morning. This is the third disappearance reported this year, following Benjamin Travis (8 yo.) and William Potter (6 yo.) Police report that they are, "doubling their efforts" in the search for the missing children, though they have yet to name any suspects. They are advising all parents to keep a close eye on their children and not leave them unsupervised for any long period of time. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the missing children, please contact your local authorities immediately._

* * *

The two sat close together, eating slices of pepperoni pizza right out of the box.

"The Slenderman story only started circulating in 2009! I looked it up! Tell me how evidence of the very same legend is here in a pile of notes from 1971, and why does it look just like the one you found today?"

Arthur slowly chewed a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni as he thought it over. He couldn't quite believe he was considering this seriously—he blamed it on the lack of sleep.

"I think it's just a lot of coincidences. The idea of a child getting kidnapped is scary, no matter the situation, so I can believe that an urban legend sprung up around the idea of a creepy kidnapper. As for the two pages, I think we should consider this case and the case from 1981 as connected, but it's really too early to say whether or not any of the earlier cases are anything other than unrelated incidents that occurred in the same area."

"Okay, but what are the odds of a small town like this having such a high number of serial kidnappings?"

"I admit, it's unusual and very unfortunate, but what you're asking me to believe is that a supernatural entity has been kidnapping children for over a century. Compared to that, unusually high rates of kidnapping are at least realistic. It's a lot more plausible that some psycho farmer began kidnapping children and then got his children or someone else involved to continue his work after he passed away."

Merlin sighed. "You're right, it's crazy. I feel crazy for even bringing it up. But I can't help but feel like there's something to the Slenderman story that's genuinely connected to our case."

"I say we forget Slenderman, the supernatural entity, and start looking at tall, slender men who live in the area with families who have been living here for several generations. I think it's much more likely we'll find our kidnapper that way. We can start a list of traits to look for in our suspect."

"And if we're considering the 1981 cases to be related, we should look for those born before 1965," Merlin said thoughtfully. He started scribbling the criteria they had been discussing onto a sheet of paper.

"Do you think there's a chance that the neighboring states have had similar cases?" Arthur wondered out loud. At Merlin's questioning glance, he elaborated. "What if he isn't waiting thirty years between each kidnapping, but is actually just moving around to different areas to keep people off his tracks? He grabs a group of kids from one area, then moves to a new area to kidnap a new group, maybe after the community becomes too guarded with their children or the police start getting too close or something."

"I guess I can check," Merlin said. "But these missing children have become a pretty well-known incident. If anything similar had happened within the last few years, even if it wasn't in Fairfax County, I think I'd remember hearing about it. Especially if the perpetrator was never caught."

Arthur nodded. "True. Maybe put in an inquiry just in case. We don't want to miss anything."

"Will do." Merlin took another bite of pizza. "You know, you're really good at your job."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?"

"Sorry. That was sort of out of nowhere, huh? I just meant that we got off to a rocky start this morning, and at first I thought you didn't really care about us small-town folks. But actually, you were just trying to get your job done as quickly and efficiently as possible, huh? I think we've made a lot of progress even in just one day. And that's what really matters in the end—not my department, not me, but the kids who are missing. So thanks." Merlin smiled at him.

Arthur was kind of floored. It wasn't often that he was genuinely complimented outside of useless platitudes. "I'm just doing my job," he managed to say.

"And I'm saying that's greatly appreciated. Take the compliment. There's no need to act surprised, I'm sure someone like you receives compliments all the time."

"'Someone like me?'"

"Yeah. Hard-working, reliable, handsome." Now Arthur really was speechless. Merlin had an amused twinkle in his eye as he continued, "I'm sure you're quite popular with the ladies, though I'm guessing you're also too much of a workaholic to get distracted by relationships, am I right?"

Arthur cleared his throat. "Let's get back to the case. I'll send an email report back to my superior. You work on that profile."

Merlin rolled his eyes, but did as instructed. Arthur pulled out his computer and began typing to distract himself. Merlin was right about one thing: he didn't like to deal with personal feelings during a case, but it wasn't the ladies he has to worry about.

* * *

Merlin yawned for the umpteenth time when Arthur finally glanced at the clock, realizing how late it was. It was almost one in the morning and they'd been working non-stop. There hadn't been any revealing new leads, so it seemed like there was no reason to keep working when they'd be just as capable of continuing where they left off in the morning and with enough rest to help them concentrate more fully.

"Let's stop here for tonight," Arthur said, breaking the silence.

Merlin glanced up at him, then his eyes flicked to the clock on the bedside table. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I didn't realize it was so late."

"It's my fault for keeping you," he said. "Will you be alright getting home? I don't want you to drive if you're drowsy."

"No, it's fine. It's less than ten minutes away. Small town, remember? And I doubt there will be many other drivers at this time of night."

Arthur frowned, but had nothing to say to argue with. He didn't really know why he was arguing in the first place.

Merlin was already shrugging into his jacket and zipping it up. "I'll be fine. I've lived here my whole life, and this will certainly not be my first time driving home at night. If it will make you feel better, I can send you a text message once I'm there."

Merlin's voice had been teasing, but Arthur was serious. "Please do," he said, pulling out his iPhone and creating a new contact before handing it to Merlin. The younger officer rolled his eyes, but typed in his number.

Arthur then sent a text so Merlin would have his number as well. The faint sound of a vibrating mobile was heard and he watched Merlin pull out his phone and add Arthur to his contacts with a small feeling of satisfaction that was not necessarily related to safety.

He walked Merlin out to the parking lot, the night air chilly for that time of year. No one else was in sight, which didn't necessarily put Arthur at ease.

"Get a good night's sleep," he said in lieu of a good-bye. "I'll meet you at 8 AM at the station so we can pick up where we left off."

"I'll be sure to set my alarm," Merlin agreed. With a tired wave, he turned and crossed the parking lot to one of the few other cars in the lot. Arthur watched until he'd started up the car and drove out of sight, feeling irrationally paranoid. He knew there was absolutely no need, and that Merlin was a trained officer and a local who was familiar with the area. But something just felt off about the town, and especially the forest at night. He glanced over at the trees looming on the other side of the road, pitch black where the orange glow of the street lights did not reach past the shadows.

Shaking off the eerie feeling, he turned back inside to get ready for bed himself. Perhaps the case was getting to him, though that wasn't exactly common. He was very good at detaching himself and did not often feel fear or paranoia while working on a case.

He brushed his teeth, pondering the details of the case once more. It wouldn't be the first time children had apparently vanished without a trace, but it was usually under more common circumstances where it would be difficult to gather the necessary evidence. For a child to disappear without a trace from a snow-covered yard was downright spooky. Did the perpetrator have a silent hovercraft? Was it an alien abduction?

Arthur shook his head at his own thoughts and spit the toothpaste into the sink. It was then he noticed the light of his phone screen, lit up with a new message. It was from Merlin.

_Miraculously, made it home alive, _it read.

Arthur chuckled, and sent a quick reply. He found he enjoyed the other officer's sarcasm. Among other things. He mentally scolded himself. If he wanted to solve this case, he needed to stop getting distracted. And that included getting distracted by certain blue-eyed cops. He shook his head again.

"I really need some sleep," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.

He stumbled into bed, turning out the light and rearranging himself until he was comfortable, but he just found himself staring up at the ceiling. Thoughts kept circling in his mind: The missing children, Merlin, Slenderman. He let his thoughts drift over everything that had happened that day until finally he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

He jerked up in bed, startled awake by something. He looked around his room, completely dark except for the glow of streetlights sneaking through the gaps in the window curtains.

The phone rang again, right beside him on the nightstand. It's shrill scream was enough to wake the dead, and Arthur certainly felt like a member of the living dead at the moment.

He grabbed the receiver quickly, wanting to silence the noise as soon as possible. "Hello?" he grunted, his voice still gravelly from sleep.

There was nothing but silence on the other end.

Arthur glanced at the clock. Once again, the numbers told him it was just a little past three in the morning.

"Hello?" he practically yelled in the phone. "Is anyone there? Is this some stupid prank? It's certainly not funny."

There was still no response from the other end. If he listened closely, he thought he could hear a very faint rustling noise, but it could also just static on the line.

"I'm hanging up now," he said to no one.

He slammed the receiver down, and then for good measure, he unplugged the cable from the phone. He could plug it back in in the morning. For now, he just wanted to get some goddamn sleep.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter, hopefully the next one will be longer, maybe as a nice little Christmas present to you all. But thank you very much for all the lovely reviews last time! I hope I didn't sound like I was pandering for reviews, it's just nice to know that people are reading. :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The Slender Man via Creepypasta Wiki

"_The Slender Man is an alleged paranormal figure purported to have been in existence for centuries, covering a large geographic area. Believers in the Slender Man tie his appearances in with many other legends around the world, including; Fear Dubh (or, The Dark Man) in Scotland, the Dutch Takkenmann (Branch Man), and the German legend of Der Großmann or Der Grosse Mann (the Tall Man)._

"…_He is described as wearing a black suit strikingly similar to the visage of the notorious Men In Black, and as the name suggests, appears very thin and able to stretch his limbs and torso to inhuman lengths in order to induce fear and ensnare his prey. Once his arms are outstretched, his victims are put into something of a hypnotized state, where they are utterly helpless to stop themselves from walking into them."_

* * *

Despite the fact that he'd only slept about five hours, Arthur was at the station before 8 that morning. Mercifully, he found a cup of steaming coffee in front of his nose almost as soon as he walked inside.

"Here, I thought you might need this, and it looks like I was right," Merlin said by way of greeting.

Arthur took the cup gratefully. "I don't suppose any new leads have come up?"

"Afraid not. But I've got Will, a buddy of mine, looking into any recent incidents of kidnapping in the surrounding districts. He'll let me know if there is anything."

Arthur nodded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to look into any parts of the woods that are open to the public in the vicinity of the victims' homes. Anywhere that has frequent hikers, hunters, etc."

"I'll go grab a map," Merlin said.

While he was gone, Arthur stood awkwardly near the entrance. The same woman from the day before was at the front desk. She was typing something into the computer, but every now and then she would glance at him, and Arthur wasn't sure why.

"Here, we can use this," Merlin said as he returned with map in hand. He gestured for the agent to follow him. "Come on, let's spread it out on my desk and figure out the best spots."

Arthur followed Merlin back. He didn't have a private office like Arthur, but the other officers at the station paid them no mind as Merlin led him to a desk and unfolded the map, spreading it out across it. They took a moment to locate the positions of the kidnapped victims' homes. It was easy enough since Arthur had been staring at those very locations on his own wall.

"Alright," Merlin said once they were all marked. "Of course, there is undeveloped land all over the place. But if we were to mark locations where visitors are commonplace, I would say here," he pointed to a green area of the map close to a couple of the other marks, before moving his finger to another spot, "and here."

"What's there?" Arthur asked. He downed the last of his coffee.

"Well, this is Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, and this one over here is Scotts Run, both have hiking trails and get a significant amount of visitors. I can't say what their surveillance or security is like, but they cover a fairly large area of land. I think these are the best places to start."

Arthur nodded in contemplation. "Matthew's house is located quite near the boundary to Lawrence Park, and both Andrew and Maria live close to Scotts Run. I think it's worth looking into whether or not there was any kind of surveillance around the park, and if there is, if we can get access to their footage around the date of each incident."

"Let's check it out," Merlin agreed.

* * *

They ended up driving to Ellanor C. Lawrence Park about an hour later. While Scotts Run had little by way of security, Lawrence Park apparently had a few surveillance cameras that had been set up after an incident of vandalism several years ago. They had gotten permission to look through the security footage.

The park seemed fairly deserted. Looking up to the sky, it wasn't hard to tell why. Dark clouds filled the sky, a summer storm undoubtedly waiting to release torrents of rain. But Arthur was undeterred.

"You're lucky," said the security guard with an absurdly bushy moustache who met them at the park's visitor center. "We only keep security feed for a few months. Another month and the records from March would have been overwritten. Though I don't know if you'll find what you're looking for anyway. It's a big park and we only have a handful of cameras."

"You have video of the roads, though. We can get a good idea of everyone who came and went the day of the incident. That might be enough," Merlin said optimistically. "We need all the footage you have from the 23rd of March."

"It's all on the computer," said the guard. "Come with me, I'll take you in back."

They followed him inside to a small room with a couple of computers set up. It was not the most high-tech system, but the computers showed seven different views, three of them of the outside, by the parking lot and entrance to the hiking trail. The other four were at different points around the community center.

"Is this the only vehicle access to the park?"

"The only public access, yes. There are a few private homes close to the park, but this is the only area open to the public." The guard shuffled on his feet. He glanced between them and the doorway. "I guess I'll leave you to it, then. There's probably a lot to go through."

Arthur nodded, barely acknowledging the man's retreat as he was already focused on the monitors in front of him. "Thank you for your assistance."

The older man left the two of them alone. Merlin was steadily clacking away at the keyboard, pulling up the videos from the date of Matthew's disappearance.

"It's more likely that we'll spot him leaving immediately following the incident than it is if we looked through all the footage leading up to the time of the abduction," he reasoned. "Who knows how long he might have been hiding in the woods before he took Matthew, but I'd bet once he had the kid, he'd be in quite a hurry."

"Let's start looking then. Focus on the cameras recording the parking lot and hiking trail. Make note of each car coming and going. It's also possible he had an accomplice bring the car."

"Got it."

The minutes ticked by, then hours, as they surveyed the footage from the day of the kidnapping. Each car was noted, a list of license plates and vehicle descriptions that barely filled a page. A weekday in the middle of March did not garner very many visitors. Those that did come through appeared to be legitimate groups of hikers or elderly folks out for a stroll. Even after looking through footage from earlier in the morning until late evening after the park was officially closed, they were unable to find anything. It was beginning to seem likely that this was a dead end.

Arthur stood up and stretched. "Keep checking the videos," he said with a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "I'm going to go out and take a look around the trail."

Merlin looked up, then grunted as he worked out a kink in his neck. "How come you get to take a break?"

"I'm not taking a break, I'm looking into other means of investigation."

"Whatever." Merlin rolled his eyes, but said nothing else.

Arthur appreciated the lack of resistance. The officer was complaining a lot less than Arthur expected, to be honest. He left Merlin alone in the room and found his way outside and walking past the parking lot towards the trail entrance. He cast a worried glance up at the sky, but it wasn't raining yet, so he figured he still had time.

The area surrounding the park center and parking lot was fairly open, with only a few trees. But once you got on the trail, the forest thickened until you were surrounded by trees and dense foliage on either side. Dim light filtered through the branches and leaves, illuminating the path in some places, and casting it in shadow in others.

Arthur was the only one on the path. He took his time walking through, making note of the little details that could be important. The trail was too small to be able to fit a car, but he didn't cross off the possibility of a motorbike. However, the forest surrounding the trail was thick, and would be difficult to pass through, even on foot. Any vehicle would have had to stay on the path.

A breeze rustled the leaves and he shivered. It was unseasonably cool.

Somewhere to his right, a twig snapped.

It gave him pause. It was such a small sound, but the forest around him was so deathly silent, that tiny noise was like an explosion to his senses. Looking around, he didn't see anyone or anything. He was still alone.

Arthur felt ridiculous. The noise could have easily been caused by animal or even just the wind.

He kept walking. Only now, despite his own reasoning, there was a prickly feeling along the back of his neck, a paranoia that he'd never felt before; he was too experienced for that. Nonetheless, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was now being watched.

Again, he heard what sounded like leaves crunching underfoot and he spun around in the direction of the noise. Nothing. The forest was silent. Not even a bird to disturb the quiet. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Arthur cast his eyes to the sky, dark grey clouds heavy with rain blanketing the sky above. He felt the first raindrops, a light misting of rain that made it through the first layer of the forest's tree branches.

Sighing, he turned to head back.

It was then that he caught it out of the corner of his eye: a streak of black. He spun around once again, sure that there was something there this time.

Nothing. No one. It was just him and the forest, but he still couldn't shake that creeping feeling along the back of his neck. His eyes scanned the surroundings, sure that there was someone there. His instincts were telling him there was.

"What the hell," he muttered to himself. He turned around again, not even sure where to look. The forest was dark, and rain had started to fall steadily now. Thick droplets that collected in leaves and fell once they were too heavy were now plopping onto his head and matting his hair. Try as he might to peer through the trees, he couldn't see anything.

"I'm going crazy, and now I'll probably get sick on top of that." Arthur shook his head in annoyance at himself and began jogging back to get out of the rain.

* * *

Merlin's eyebrows shot to his hairline when Arthur walked in. "Did you investigate a hiking trail or a swimming pool?"

"Ha ha. Hilarious. Is there anything I can use to dry off?"

The rain had gone from a steady shower to a complete downpour in a matter of minutes, and Arthur had been caught in the worst of it as he ran back down the trail. His clothes were plastered to his skin and his shoes were caked in mud.

"I'm sure they have something. If not, I think I've got a spare jacket and blankets in the car."

Arthur struggled out of his jacket. "Would you mind going to ask for me? I'll just be in the bathroom."

Merlin swiveled the chair around and hurried out.

Arthur peered down at the list he'd still been working on. There was a fair number of vehicles and license plate numbers. He looked through the list for any motorbikes and was unsurprised to find that there were none. The park was feeling more and more like a dead end.

In the bathroom, he stripped off his shirt and did his best to wipe some of the mud off his shoes before it dried. He felt the dampness clinging to his skin still. He grabbed a fistful of paper towels to rub down what he could.

A flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention once more. He froze. Was it the same thing he felt in the forest? Did whoever it was follow him. Dammit, since he took of his clothes, he didn't have a weapon. Making a split-second decision, he spun to face them, ready to throw a punch and—

"Whoa, shit! It's me!" Merlin shouted, hands up, dropping a pile of fabric onto the tiled floor. He'd jumped back a foot when Arthur had suddenly swung around.

"Merlin? Sorry!" He breathed out, shocked at his own jumpiness. "Sorry," he said again, for lack of an explanation.

Merlin was looking at him with… concern? "Are you alright? You're jumpy. And you look pale. You're not coming down with a cold already, are you?" He bent down to pick up the towel and jacket he'd dropped. "Here, take this. It's not much, but at least you won't have to wear a wet jacket."

"Thanks," Arthur murmured. "Maybe I am getting sick. I don't know. I've been feeling strange since I went into the forest."

"Strange how?"

"Like… " Paranoid. Like he was being watched. Arthur would have brushed it off if it were anyone else, but he knew himself, and he'd never felt that way on any other case he'd been on. He didn't get scared easily, and his mind had certainly never played tricks on him before. He'd always been able to trust his instincts, but now he wasn't so sure.

He couldn't tell Merlin this. No matter how comfortable he was beginning to feel around him, he was still just a cop he'd been partnered with a couple days ago.

"Forget it. Never mind." He pulled the jacket on, suddenly conscious of being half-naked in front of the other man. "Did you find anything on the surveillance cam?"

Merlin's expression told him he was still convinced something was wrong, but mercifully he went along with the change of subject. "No. Nothing immediately suspicious, at any rate. There were only a handful of visitors that day. A few older couples, some family groups. I took note of all of them, though, so you can review the list yourself later on."

Arthur nodded. "Let's get out of here then. I don't think there's anything else to find."

* * *

They ended up in a diner once again, catching a late lunch and refueling with steaming cups of coffee. Arthur had a fresh change of clothes, but outside, it was still pouring rain. It pounded the streets, puddled on the sidewalks, and drummed against the windows. It was an impressive summer storm that had encouraged most to stay inside. Aside from Arthur and Merlin, the diner was nearly empty.

While both of them shoved food into their mouths in mutual silence, Arthur read through the list that Merlin had compiled. It was as he said. There was nothing immediately suspicious about anyone who'd visited the park around the time Matthew had disappeared.

Arthur finished chewing his bite of the sandwich that he'd ordered, a messy club sandwich with too much mayonnaise, and then gulped it down with the coffee. "Well, I would have said to check out Scott's Run next, but…" he trailed off and glanced out at the miserable weather.

Merlin nodded. They wouldn't be able to get anything done outside. He stared out the window, racking his brain for ideas.

"The children… Did they all go to the same school?" Arthur asked.

Merlin frowned in thought. "I'd have to double check, but I believe so. Why?"

"Did anyone think to ask their teachers if they'd noticed anything strange?"

"I believe there was some basic questioning, but most of the children went missing while they were still at home, so I don't think they really looked into much. At the very least, I never heard about anything relevant to the investigation turning up."

"But what about this imaginary friend thing? Did anyone ask the teachers about that?"

Merlin sat up, realizing where Arthur's train of thought was going. "No, I don't think they would have thought to!"

"What time does the school let out?"

Merlin glanced at the time. He grinned. "In twenty minutes."

Arthur returned the grin. "It may be just another dead end, but at least it's something." He pulled out a twenty and threw it on the table before grabbing his jacket and pushing out of the booth.

"Let's go."

* * *

I shouldn't promise to update by any certain date. It probably jinxes me. That said, I'm sorry for saying I'd update by Christmas-I think I only had like five or six hundred words at the time. Hopefully the next chapter will come quicker, but like I said, no promises.

Thank you to everyone who read the story thus far and to those still reading it. :)


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Excerpt from TechCrunch website:

_The first image of Slenderman- of a tall, out-of-focus figure, next to a tree – was accompanied by a bit of text that sounds like the dialogue from a badly-translated horror game:_

"_One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as "The Slender Man". Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Fire at library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated as evidence."  
– 1986, photographer: Mary Thomas, missing since June 13th, 1986._

_Other posters added their own interpretations of the material, creating a backstory that stretched out to 16th-century Germany and even to 5000 BC. The creator, Victor Surge, added a few more photos, while other visitors created their own. _

* * *

The school was downright gloomy. It being summer, the school already had less students than usual, the classrooms and hallways populated only by those unfortunate enough to be attending the summer school program. But the classes had let out for the day, and with the rain pounding down outside, none of the children were eager to linger.

Arthur and Merlin were alone as they walked down the hallway, their footsteps echoing off the linoleum floors. They'd been told by the principal that one of the summer school teachers, a Miss Bastet, had been the homeroom teacher for both Matthew Tanaka and Scott Stilinski, and that if she hadn't left already, she should still be in room 3B.

"This brings back memories," Merlin sighed.

"Was this your school?"

"Yeah. Like I said, small town. It's been years since I've last been in here, though."

"Do you know the teacher?" Arthur asked.

"Exactly how young do you think I am? It's been at least 20 years since I went here."

"But you did say it was a small town."

Merlin shrugged. "True. I still don't know everyone. The name Bastet doesn't ring any bells. Anyway, here we are."

The door to room 3B was closed, so they knocked.

A woman's voice from the other side yelled, "Come in!"

They pushed the door open and walked in to a room covered in children's artwork and motivational reading posters. One poster covered in puppies and kittens said "Paws for Reading."

There was a dark-haired woman sitting at the teacher's desk in the corner of the room. She looked to be in her late 20's, and had a pair of reading glasses on as she worked through some papers in front of her. But as they came in, she stood.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed it was a student." She looked between the two of them curiously. "How can I help you?"

Merlin showed her his badge and said, "I hear that you were Matthew and Scott's teacher. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions."

"I already talked to the police," she said. She was wringing her hands nervously.

"We just have a few follow-up questions," Arthur cut in, speaking gently. "Your cooperation would be very much appreciated."

She glanced between the two of them again. "What do you want to know?"

Cutting right to the chase, he said, "Matthew apparently told his parents about a tall man he'd been seeing outside, and they dismissed it as an imaginary friend. We were wondering if he'd brought this up with you, and whether or not Scott ever mentioned something similar."

"An imaginary friend?" she repeated. "I don't think I remember anything like that. And after Matthew disappeared, all of the students were scared, Scott included. I think he would have brought it up if he'd seen a tall man around his house."

Merlin nodded thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you'd have any old papers or notebooks they'd used? Anything they might have written in or drawn on? Did you have the students keep journals or anything?"

She straightened, realization spreading over her features. "As a matter of fact, I do still have some of their classwork." She strode over to one of the bottom cabinets and pulled out a box. "I'm afraid it's a bit of a mess, but in here I have all the classwork and projects that didn't get brought home at the end of the year. Most of the kids bring it home themselves, but neither Matthew's parents nor Scott's ever came to pick up their schoolwork. There should be everything they worked on this past school year. Of course, there's also projects from other students mixed in here, so you'll have to dig around a bit. I'm afraid I didn't keep it very organized, since I was just going to throw it all away when the next school year started."

It was a fairly large box, and like she said, inside was a jumble of papers and projects.

Arthur hefted it up. "Would it be alright for us to go through it here, or do you need to leave soon?"

"Oh, um. I still have some papers to grade, so I'll probably be here for another half hour. Will that be enough time?"

"That should be plenty," Merlin said with a gentle smile. "Don't mind us, just do whatever you need to."

She nodded and turned to head back to her desk. Then she stopped and spun around to face them again. "Thank you!" At the pair's surprised look, she quickly elaborated. "Thank you for not giving up on the children. I think some people already have, but I haven't. And I hope you can find them."

Without waiting for a reply, she returned to her desk, and shuffled through the pile of papers waiting there.

Arthur looked to Merlin, who was still staring at her. He elbowed the officer. "You heard the lady, let's get to work and find those kids."

Merlin shook his head, grinning. "You don't have to tell me twice."

They both dug into the box, pulling out all sorts of projects, from short essays to finger paintings to hand-made pop-up books. They looked at everything, even the things by other students, to see if they could find any clues. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was all a bunch of normal school projects.

Arthur picked out a small bunch of notebooks and workbooks. "Hey, these are Scott's." Since his parents never picked up any of his work, apparently even his books had found their way into the box. Arthur began paging through one of them, while Merlin grabbed another. Page by page, they looked through history notes, math problems, and spelling practice. But there were lots of doodles in the notebooks—in the margins, at the corners, sometimes taking up whole pages. A lot of it was short comics or animal drawings.

"I guess Scott was something of a budding artist," Merlin noted as he flipped past a drawing of what looked to be a dog driving a car.

"Shit," Arthur muttered.

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "It's not that bad."

Arthur made a frustrated noise. "No, look." Merlin looked at whatever Arthur was holding.

It was one of Scott's notebooks, and taking up an entire page was what looked like another doodle. Merlin came to stand next to Arthur so that he was looking at it right-side up as well.

"Oh my god."

On the page was a drawing that was eerily similar to the first two they'd found. It was a crude, stick-figure like drawing of a tall man dressed all in black, and all around him was the word "No" scribbled hastily, almost violently.

Outside, the rain continued to pour down. Lightning crashed and thunder rumbled. Merlin and Arthur were both staring at the drawing with something like disbelief.

Arthur was the first to break the silence. He looked at Merlin, who looked to be just as shocked as he was, then back at the drawing that had just complicated their case. "I hate to say it, but I think we need to start looking into the Slenderman."

* * *

They returned to the station. Arthur could only tolerate using bad hotel wifi for so long before he got fed up. And he had a feeling they'd be doing a lot of internet research. Though at the same time, he was anxious to return to the hotel to collect the other pieces of paper with scribbly stick figure drawings. Was it just a coincidence and the original pages happened to resemble an elementary student's drawing? Could they actually be related?

The more clues they gathered, the more questions he had.

Arthur pulled a chair from another desk over so he could sit next to Merlin, who was already booting up the desktop computer.

"So where do we even start? Google?"

"I'd be lying if I said I had any experience with this kind of thing," Merlin said. "But Google's as good a place as any, I suppose."

Arthur sighed. Then he swept a hand towards the computer keyboard. "It's your computer. Be my guest."

Merlin rolled his eyes, but scooted closer so he could bring up the internet browser and begin typing.

_Slender Man_

"Not very specific," Arthur griped.

"Shut up. You start with a broad search term and work your way down to specifics. Everyone knows that. You're free to use another computer, if you'd like."

Arthur grunted, but didn't know what search terms he'd use, himself. So he kept his mouth shut as they read through some vague descriptions and forums on horror stories and urban legends.

"Perhaps if we figure out who first put the story onto the net?" Merlin said, thinking aloud more than speaking to Arthur.

But Arthur nodded. "Good idea."

Their search led them to Something Awful forums, the origin of the Slenderman internet phenomenon.

"Here," Merlin said. "This is the first post. A photoshopped photo with some made up caption about it being a photo taken the day some children disappeared. Apparently the original poster was named Victor Surge."

"Can you get any information about him?"

"One sec." Merlin leaned forward, eyes intent on the screen as he clicked on several different links, before backtracking and then typing in new search keywords.

"Got it. His real name is Eric Hudson,* but it looks like his account hasn't been active for a few years. Check out his profile though."

Arthur read through the details. A lot of it was normal internet profile information. Name, age, location, interests. A lot of people left this stuff blank, and even if there was something written, that didn't necessarily mean it was true.

"His location, Arthur. He said he lived in Oakton. That's just a couple towns over."

Arthur sat up straighter. "Then we can look him up? Meet with him?"

"If he's still living there, and if Eric Hudson is his real name."

"Find him."

* * *

The storm was still going strong when they pulled up in front of a plain, two-story apartment building, the wind whipping around them and sending the rain to pound against the car from all angles. It was darker. Even though the clouds obscured any hint of daylight, a glance at his watch told Arthur that the sun was probably descending upon the horizon.

Merlin pulled out a small umbrella and ducked out his side of the vehicle. Arthur didn't have any such shelter, so he turned up the collar of his coat and prepared to dash for the building.

Merlin intercepted him outside, immediately drawing close so they could share the umbrella. Surprised, Arthur almost pulled away out of reflex, but he'd already suffered one soaking, and he wasn't too keen on another. Under the small space, they were suddenly much closer, their arms pressed together.

"Sorry it's small, but it's better than nothing."

"Thanks," Arthur muttered. He wasn't sure how he felt about Merlin so thoughtlessly entering his private space, but figured it was necessary.

The two trudged up the walkway to the apartment building. There was a small gate, but no security. It was unlocked.

"Guess we just go on in, huh? Apartment 23, right?"

"Yeah," Merlin replied.

He was so close, Arthur could feel the warmth of his breath when he spoke. He shivered and pulled away to duck into the shelter of the building.

It was an old building, and whoever was in charge of the maintenance was certainly not doing their job. The stairs were dirty and littered with trash. One of the hall lights had gone out.

"I guess internet fame doesn't mean much in the real world," Merlin commented once they found themselves in front of apartment 23. He knocked.

There was no answer. Not even any sounds from inside.

Arthur stepped up and knocked again, much louder and with more force. "Mr. Hudson? Are you in there?"

They were very still, just listening for several moments.

"You think he's gone out?"

"In this weather?"

"You never know."

The sound of a latch sliding and a door creaking open startled them—especially since it came from behind them. They spun around to see an elderly woman peering at them from where the door to apartment 204 was cracked open.

"You looking for Eric?" she rasped.

Merlin stood up straighter. "Yes, ma'am. Does he live here? Has he perhaps gone out somewhere?"

"I haven't seen him for a couple of years," she replied. She pushed the door open further. She was wearing an old night robe and her feet were bare. "He was a nice young man, though. Sometimes he got my groceries for me. Then one day he up and vanished, don't know where to. I hope he's not in some kind of trouble, he left all his stuff behind, too."

"Do you think the landlord might have more information?" Arthur asked.

The lady scoffed. "That old fool don't know nothing. I wanted him to call the police when Eric first disappeared, but he said he didn't want his apartments getting a bad rep, y'know? Not like it matters, no one else ever even moved into that apartment after Eric left."

"I see," Arthur said, with a glance at Merlin.

Merlin stepped forward, handing the woman a card. "You've been very helpful, thank you for answering our questions. If perhaps you see Eric again or discover where he went, could you give us a call?"

She perked up at the praise. "Why it would be my pleasure. I hope you officers find him, he really was such a nice young man."

"We'll do our best, ma'am."

They retreated back down the hall as she shuffled back into her little apartment.

Merlin sighed. "What now? Talk to the owner? Or perhaps whoever the building manager is."

"That seems like the logical next step…" Arthur felt like they were being led around on a wild goose chase. Where they should have been finding answers, they were only getting more mysteries, more unanswered questions.

They descended the stairs again. This time, they were in search of whoever was in charge of the building. Though they were able to find a small office, they didn't find anyone inside.

Arthur leaned against the door and crossed his arms. "Well, there's no one in here. What do you think? Go back upstairs and ask the old woman?"

Merlin pulled out his phone. "Let me just call the office first. We can probably get the actual contact info faster that way, anyhow."

"In that case, I'll just step outside and make a phone call of my own."

Arthur stepped out for a bit of privacy, keeping close to the shelter of the building and avoiding the waterfall of rainwater that cascaded from the roof. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number he had memorized.

Kil picked up on the first ring.

"Pendragon. I'd been expecting to hear back from you sooner."

"Sorry, sir. The case has kept me busy."

"I'm sure it has. So? Have you found anything yet?"

Arthur shook his head, even knowing that Kil couldn't see him. "It's hard to say, sir. I thought I'd found several new leads, but every new clue seems to just lead us to more questions, rather than answers."

"That seems to be the way with most of the difficult cases. Anything conclusive to report?"

"Well," Arthur paused. He didn't know whether or not he should mention Slenderman. "We're beginning to this might not be the first time this kidnapper has struck. We've found records of similar cases from 1981 and even years before that."

"A serial kidnapper, huh? An interesting theory. I'll see if we have any records of past serial kidnapping cases from that area, though I'd assume the locals would have more thorough records."

"Thanks all the same, we'd appreciate that."

"By the way," Kil said, with a different tone to his voice. "You keep saying 'we.'"

"Oh." He had been including Merlin in the conversation, hadn't he? "There's a local officer I've been working closely with. Merlin Emrys. He's been a great help."

"Hm. Unusual for you. In any case, keep up with the investigation. It sounds like you're getting somewhere, even if you don't know where yet. Keep me updated."

"Yes, sir."

On the other end, the line cut off abruptly. Arthur was used to Kil's brusque manners. He pocketed his phone with a sigh. He couldn't even imagine what his superior would say if Arthur told him he was investigating a supernatural entity. Hopefully, Merlin was having better luck with his phone call.

Arthur was about to duck back inside to get away from the wind and rain when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

It was hard to see through the dark and the rain, but it looked like a figure. There was a grove of trees across the road, opposite the apartment complex. Though the daylight was gone by then, the street lamps cast enough light to illuminate the edges of the trees, just beyond the road. He could have sworn he'd seen what looked like a man, standing amongst the shadows and staring at him.

He was looking straight at the spot now, squinting through the rain for a better view, but he couldn't see anyone.

"Arthur."

He would never admit to it, but he nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun to face Merlin.

"I thought I saw someone," Arthur said before the dark-haired man could ask. "But now I don't know if it was just my mind playing tricks on me."

Merlin looked in the direction he'd been staring, that grove of trees across the road.

"Do you want to check it out?"

Arthur shook himself. "No. No, I'm sure now that there was no one there. Who would be standing there in this weather?" As if to emphasize his point, a crash of thunder followed his statement. "Did you find the owner of the apartments?"

Merlin perked up. "I did. He agreed to meet us here tomorrow morning, so we can ask about Eric Hudson. He also said he'd let us look through his old apartment. We might find something helpful there."

"Well, that's good news." He glanced across the street again, as though expecting the scene to change while he wasn't looking. Obviously, it was just the same dark bunch of trees.

"I think you need a break," Merlin suggested. He opened up his umbrella again, slinging a friendly arm around Arthur's shoulder to lead him back to the car under the meager shelter. "Come on, let's go grab some dinner."

* * *

Hello, everyone! Uhh… I'm back? Thank you to anyone who has been waiting for a new chapter, and if you've just started reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Last chapter, I forgot that this was currently taking place in summer when school would be out, so… summer school! Hopefully it doesn't sound too after-thought-ish.

*Like I said in the beginning, this story is a mish mash of real facts and fiction. The creator of Slenderman did use the name Victor Surge, but his real name is Eric Knudsen and he is alive and well, living with his family in Florida, or so the internet says.

On an unrelated note, I've officially been a member of this website for ten years now? Holy shit.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_Excerpt from Catonsville Times_

_Wednesday, October 17, 2012_

_The recent case of animal killings has been credited to middle school students [names redacted], who claim they were making offerings to Slenderman, a mythological creature born online that's at the center of this bizarre case of gullible adolescents committing a very serious crime__…_

_In an interview with a Slender Man fansite, The Slender Man was correctly tabbed "an accelerated version of an urban legend." That legend has accelerated all the way up to film, where The Slender Man has become the focus of web shorts, a YouTube series and two feature-length films.__ To be clear: Slender Man is not real. Anyone who reads Creepypasta's Wiki entry on him and emerges believing otherwise is either not thinking clearly or not able to distinguish fact from fiction. [Names redacted] would seem to fall into one, if not both of those groups._

* * *

"So. Welcome to my humble abode."

Tired of take-out and greasy diner food, Merlin had invited Arthur back to his own small apartment.

"After all," Merlin had said with a grin, "I figure by now we can consider ourselves to be co-workers, if not friends."

"As long as you don't end up poisoning me…" Arthur had replied grudgingly.

Now Arthur was stepping cautiously into Merlin's small but cozy one-bedroom apartment. He wondered if he should remove his shoes before entering, but Merlin hadn't, so he continued inside.

"Would you like a drink? I have some coke, beer, and... orange juice?"

"A beer, thanks," he said, taking a look around.

There was a small room with a large window, occupied by an old television set, an old, but comfy-looking couch, and a coffee table. It continued into an open kitchen with a small 4-person table off to the side, where Merlin was already starting to pull items out of his fridge. It wasn't exactly messy, but there was a pile of clothes on the couch, and almost every available table surface was covered by paperwork.

"How do you feel about salmon?" Merlin asked.

"I like it," Arthur said non-committally.

"But?" Merlin prodded.

Arthur grinned. "No buts. I'm just wondering what you're thinking of making and whether or not it'll be edible."

"Do not doubt me," Merlin admonished. "I'm just asking because it's the only thing I have fresh and anything else would have to come out of a can or jar."

"Fresh salmon? How in the world did you find time to do grocery shopping? Especially when I can tell that you take your work home as much as I do," Arthur said, surveying the documents on the kitchen table.

"Oh, sorry, you can move those to the coffee table," Merlin said, referring to the papers. "And to answer your question, I don't. My mother insists on making sure I'm _not _eating questionable take-out for every meal. If she had her way, she'd cook it for me too, but then I might as well have never moved out in the first place, so I do that much for myself."

Arthur smiled, but it was bittersweet as he tried to recall a time his father had ever cared about whether Arthur was feeding himself properly. "Must be nice."

"Yeah, I don't know what I'd have done without her," Merlin said fondly. "What about your parents? They must be incredibly proud of you." He paused. "Or are you not allowed to discuss your work with those not involved?"

"He knows what I do in general, at least. My father. Whether or not he's proud, that remains to be seen. He's in the same line of work, and it was always just kind of expected that I follow in his footsteps." He took a sip of his beer. "My mother died when I was born. I have no idea what she'd think of me."

Merlin paused what he was doing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Arthur shrugged. "You couldn't have known."

"…For what it's worth, I'm sure she'd be proud of you. There's no way she wouldn't be."

"Thanks, Merlin." He cleared his throat, and changed topics. "So, what _are _you making? I'd offer to help, but I never learned how to do anything in the kitchen except use the microwave."

"Now that's just sad. Come here, even you should know how to boil noodles," Merlin joked.

Thirty minutes later, and Arthur can't help but be impressed when he finally takes a bite of the salmon carbonara.

"Mm, this is delicious! An officer who can cook? The ladies must love you."

Merlin grinned at the praise. "Well, between you and me, it's not really the ladies I'm trying to impress."

Arthur choked on the bite he just took and Merlin quickly changed the subject.

"Would you like another beer?" the dark haired officer said in a rush. Without waiting for Arthur to answer, he got up to grab a couple from the fridge. "After today, I could definitely use a few beers at the least."

Arthur, after recovering from his surprise, managed a nod as he finally swallowed his food. He took the cool bottle gratefully and had a long sip after popping the cap off. "I agree. We're definitely on the right track, but I have a feeling it's just going to get even more confusing. There won't be any simple answers here."

"It can't be a coincidence that the missing children are somehow related to the Slender Man legend, and the man who created the Slender Man legend is now missing as well," Merlin continued. "But for how long has he been gone? And why wouldn't anyone report him missing?"

"Hopefully, the landlord can at least shed some light on that," Arthur said with a roll of his eyes. The owner of the apartment building—a gruff, older man by the name of Bayard, had been very reluctant to answer any of their questions on the phone, and only their threat of acquiring a search warrant for the entire apartment complex had finally gotten him to agree to meet the next day.

After dinner, all their dishes were washed and dried and Arthur was on his third beer after Merlin had encouraged him to relax on the couch and take a breather. He had to admit, he'd not stopped to take his mind off the case since he'd started, and he knew well that sometimes taking a break can help you step back from a case, to see things you hadn't noticed before.

They popped in a DVD—some action flick with lots of explosions and minimal plot.

The movie finished around midnight. Merlin stretched his arms up over his head, but Arthur was quite reluctant to move.

Merlin noticed. "You're welcome to crash here for the night. I'm not sure I'll have any sleeping clothes that will fit you, but we can swing by your motel in the morning for a fresh change of clothes."

"Sure, sounds good," Arthur said with a yawn. He forced himself to stand so that he could wash up a bit, at least. While in the bathroom, Merlin knocked and handed him a huge t-shirt and some gym shorts.

"They were my ex's." He coughed. "Should fit you. I left a blanket and pillow on the couch. Let me know if you need anything else." He began to back away toward the door to what Arthur assumed was the bedroom, the only room he hadn't seen yet.

"Merlin."

The officer turned back to him. "Hm?"

"If you're worried about me judging you for your sexuality, or… anything like that. Don't be. It would make me a hypocrite." He found himself struggling not to look away as he waited for a reply.

Merlin's face softened and he smiled warmly. "Good night, Arthur."

* * *

A shrill ringing jolted Arthur up from where he'd passed out on Merlin's couch.

He looked around blearily, then located the source of the noise as being the phone on the counter in the kitchen. He groaned at having to get up, but pushed the blankets off and stumbled over to the phone in the dark.

Disregarding the fact that it was Merlin's phone, it was after three in the morning and he answered it angrily. "Yes? Who is this?"

Silence greeted him on the other end.

Struck by a sense of déjà vu, he repeated himself, more cautiously this time. "Hello? May I ask who's calling at this hour?"

Abruptly, the line disconnected as whoever it was must have hung up the phone.

He looked down at the phone in his hand, but the caller ID simply said "Unknown Caller" before going dark.

"Arthur?"

He spun around. Merlin was in the doorway, looking concerned. He put the phone down, guiltily. He probably shouldn't have picked up the phone, since he was in someone else's home. Belatedly, he realized that a late night call could have come from the station or some friend or family member of Merlin's due to an emergency of some sort.

"I apologize. I shouldn't have answered your phone."

Merlin waved off his apology. "Who was it?"

"No one. That's the thing. Whoever it was didn't say anything…" It was just like those calls he'd received at his motel. When he glanced at his watch, he realized it was around the same time as well. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Merlin was checking his phone for messages. "No one's tried to contact my cell. Most people would try that first. Perhaps it was a prank."

"Strange," Arthur murmured to himself. To Merlin, he asked, "Did you happen to tell anyone I was sleeping here tonight?"

Merlin tilted his head. "No…"

"The past couple of nights, I received calls just like that at the motel," he explained. "Around this time, a little after three in the morning, the phone in my room would ring. And every time I answered it, there would be no answer. The first time, I thought it was a mistake. The second time, I thought it was some issue with the phone, so I unplugged it. I've been meaning to speak to the motel staff about it. But now that it's happened here as well…"

Arthur trailed off. A pattern had appeared, but he had no idea what it meant. A prank? But most phone pranks were stupid. "Is your refrigerator running? Then you'd better go catch it!" This person wasn't saying anything. Were they trying to scare him? And how would they know he wasn't at the motel tonight? How would they have gotten either the motel room number or Merlin's number?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped. But it was just Merlin. "How about we wait until morning and then try to redial? If we call back now, whoever it is will know something's up. But during the day, they might just answer."

Arthur nodded tiredly. It was a better plan than anything he could think of.

"Let's get some sleep."

With all the strange mysteries they still hadn't solved, Arthur thought he'd be lying awake until sunrise. But surprisingly, at Merlin's words, he suddenly felt exhausted. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Arthur woke early the next morning to the sound of Merlin puttering around in the kitchen. He sat up on the couch, watching for a while, as Merlin, still sleep-ruffled with an endearing bed head, started a coffee maker and shuffled around to make some sort of breakfast. Now knowing what he did about Merlin, he realized he was very much in danger of crossing a line. A line that he didn't cross for a reason.

He looked away and started gathering his things. "What time is it?" he grunted.

"G'morning," said Merlin. "It's almost seven. Coffee?"

"Please."

There was a lot they had to do. Since Merlin had driven the day before, it meant that Arthur's vehicle would still be parked at the police station. Merlin would have to drive him to the motel so he could shower and change. They were supposed to meet with the landlord Mr. Bayard at the apartment complex, which was a couple of towns over and that would be at least half an hour's drive.

But first, coffee. Arthur took the steaming mug offered to him with a mutter of thanks. Merlin also cooked up some eggs and bacon with some almost-burnt toast. They dug in wordlessly.

After they were done, Merlin broke the silence. "So. Last night?"

By then, he could be referring to any number of things. He tensed up. "What about last night?"

"The phone call? At three in the morning?"

Arthur nodded quickly. There was no forgetting that strange incident.

"It's strange. I would have passed it off as a phone malfunction or prank call, but the fact that it happened here as well is too suspicious to disregard."

Merlin snatched up his phone. "Now that it's morning, let's see what happens if we try calling back."

Arthur watched as he hit the redial button, his expression sliding from impatience to confusion to frustration. Without a word, he handed the phone to Arthur.

"_We're sorry, but the number you are trying to reach does not exist. Please try—_" He hung up.

"Well, I'm not totally surprised," he said with a shrug and a sigh. "It's not like we've gotten straight answers for anything else recently. In any case, we have other things we should be doing. We can track down prank callers later."

* * *

Bayard was late. Arthur and Merlin had arrived at the motel twenty minutes earlier, but there was still no sign of the man they were supposed to meet with. The weather forecast had claimed there would be no more rain until the next day, but the storm clouds overhead looked like they were ready to contradict that report at any moment, so they were sat waiting inside the car.

Finally, an old pick-up truck pulled into the small parking area and a stout older man stepped out. Arthur and Merlin exited their own vehicle almost simultaneously.

"Mr. Bayard?" Merlin called out.

The older man nodded and came towards them.

"I'm officer Merlin Emrys, this is agent Arthur Pendragon. I spoke to you on the phone yesterday."

"About seeing Eric Hudson's apartment, I remember. I always knew that guy was up to something, you know."

"Up to something?" Arthur prodded.

"He just didn't seem like a normal guy. Always seemed to keep to himself, had trouble paying rent. I suspected he had some problems with drugs, but I never found any proof." He glanced between the two of them. "Would you mind telling me what you need to go through his apartment for? What's an _agent _doing all the way out here?"

"I'm afraid we can't reveal that information," Merlin immediately responded.

"Well, I can just as easily not reveal the apartment," the man huffed.

Arthur grit his teeth. "And then we'll have to go and get a search warrant, which will make the investigation around your building a much bigger deal and more likely to catch the attention of some member of the press."

Bayard glared. He pulled some keys from his pocket and gestured for them to follow.

It was the same dirty stairs and hallway. In the interest of getting the landlord's cooperation, neither of them mentioned his obviously poor management of the building and the violation of several fire codes; they would wait until after they'd seen what they needed to.

The door to the apartment swung open into a dark room. The curtains had been drawn closed, and the electricity turned off. Arthur stepped around furniture and piles of junk until he reached the window and was able to pull the curtain back, shedding some light on the room. The entire place was covered in two years' worth of dust. A two-person couch and a chair that didn't match took up most of the living space, along with an old, but large, television. In the corner, where a dining room table should be, was a desk with a computer. The kitchen was the cleanest area, with only a few plates and utensils left out. Scattered around the room were random items; clothing, shoes, papers and writing utensils, books, a gaming console, tools, electronic equipment, the list went on.

"Not a very tidy person, was he?" Arthur remarked as he scooted some underpants out of the way with the toe of his shoe.

"I don't even know where to begin looking," Merlin muttered.

"I got rid of any obvious trash. Food and the like. But everything else is more or less as it was when he first went missing."

Arthur hoped there hadn't been anything important that had been accidentally thrown away. He pawed through the selection of books and a pile of video games. On the desk, there were piles of paper which he flipped through quickly, looking for any notes or dates that might have indicated he had plans to leave.

There were a few sheets of loose paper that looked like they'd been torn from a notebook. They were lying on the floor next to the desk, so Arthur bent down to pick them up and turn them over and immediately he knew they were on the right track.

"Merlin."

The officer looked up from where he was peering under couch cushions. Arthur flipped the first page around to show him. It was a scribbled drawing of what looked like trees and a lone stick figure among them.

"Well, he certainly wasn't much of an artist," Bayard said with a chuckle.

They both ignored him and Merlin walked over to see it more closely. "It could have been from when he was still creating fake monster graphics." Even as he said that, he recognized the page to be the same type as all the others, faintly yellowed with age.

"And this?" Arthur held up the second page. _HELP ME _was scribbled in very large, very hasty handwriting, and underlined three times, taking up the entire page.

"We need to analyze these and compare them to the others. We can't make any definite conclusions from two pieces of paper."

Arthur nodded. "You check his bedroom. I'm going to look through the desk to see if there's anything else."

Merlin stood and disappeared through a door, while Arthur looked through every drawer of that desk, leaving no paper unturned, pushing pens and office supplies out of the way. He didn't find any more papers or anything else in the desk, but when he looked under it, there was a box.

He pulled it out, removing the lid to find piles and piles of tapes. Each one was neatly labelled with a date. They seemed to be more or less in order, starting from September of 2012 until November that same year.

"When did you first realize he was gone?" he asked Bayard.

The man shrugged. He'd sat down on the couch while they searched the place. "When he didn't pay his rent. It was overdue and he didn't pick up when I tried to call him, so I came to the apartment. I think it was late 2012? Close to Christmas? I'd have to double check my records to be sure. But by then, he had to have been gone for at least a week, maybe a month at the most."

"Why didn't you report him missing?" he asked with a cold glare. The fact that the landlord knew his tenant had disappeared without notice, leaving all his belongings behind, was at the least a serious lack of regard for the well-being of others, and at most, meant that he was hiding something he didn't want the authorities to know.

Bayard put his hands up defensively. "Hey, all I was thinking was that he didn't have the money to pay rent, so he bailed."

"Leaving all his stuff here?"

Bayard's nostrils flared and he stood up. "Are you interrogating me? Is this an interrogation? 'Cause I haven't done anything wrong! If you're gonna accuse me of some kind of crime, you'd better back it up with evidence, or else get the hell out of here!"

Arthur went into the bedroom where Merlin was rummaging through a closet.

"Anything?" the blond asked.

Merlin shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary. No sign that he packed any bags or removed anything important. But his wallet was on the nightstand, and I have no idea what to think of this camera." He gestured to a video camera that was set up on a tri-pod, pointed at the bed.

Arthur pulled on some forensic gloves and grabbed the camera. "Bag the wallet," he ordered. "I think there's got to be some reason for this camera being here. There's a whole collection of tapes in a box under the desk. I think we need to review all of them to see if we can get a better idea of what happened to him."

Merlin quickly complied, putting the wallet into a clean plastic bag.

"I think we've got what we came for," Arthur continued. "We can follow up on Bayard's questionable lack of concern for his tenants at a later date."

Merlin snorted, but nodded.

Bayard glared as they packed up the tapes and other items they considered to be possible evidence.

"Leaving so soon?"

"We'll be back with more questions for you later," Arthur assured him. "If you really haven't done anything wrong, then you'll be prepared to cooperate," he added with a menacing look, subtly conveying that he wouldn't like whatever might happen if he didn't cooperate.

They headed back out to their car, leaving Bayard to lock up the apartment again. Arthur could feel the weight of the tape-filled box in his arms and knew they had more than enough work to keep them occupied for some time. And hopefully get them one step closer to solving this case.

* * *

Merthur fans rejoice! Finally, we see a little progress between these two. Arthur's too reserved and professional, though. He'd never instigate a romance under normal circumstances.

Sorry about the long wait. There's been a lot going on for me. I got back from a trip to Europe, and now I'm sadly unemployed and struggling to find some worthwhile employment. But that means I have a lot of free time to write fic when I'm not actively job hunting.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Slenderman and Tulpas via MonsterTalk:**

"_They say Slenderman was created for a contest on a website. But the thin, faceless character… has 'gone viral' and spun off numerous art and fiction stories. And some fans of the Slenderman believe that he is real — either existing already from time immemorial, or that he exists now, brought to life by the combined belief of millions of humans in the form of a living creature known as a Tulpa."_

* * *

Arthur and Merlin lugged the box of tapes from Eric's apartment back to the police office. They didn't even know if there was anything on them that was worth watching, since they could just end up being hours and hours of unedited home movies with no clues as to Eric's current whereabouts. Or they could provide key information about Eric up until the date he disappeared.

Thankfully, the tapes were mostly dated. In the entire box, only two of the tapes had blank labels.

Arthur pulled them out, one by one, trying to get them all ordered chronologically on the table.

"Do you have something we can play these on? He apparently wasn't interested in the fact that most people use DVDs these days."

"Yeah, we can actually use the projector screen in the other room, if you wanna start setting that up. Let me just report in to Pellinore, so he doesn't come in and grill me on why we're sitting around, watching home movies," Merlin said with a roll of his eyes.

Arthur took the first stack of tapes for September, the earliest one marked September 6-8, the last being September 23-29. There were four tapes in all. He brought them to the room Merlin had gestured to, a small meeting room set up with a video projector and a variety of media players, from VHS to Blu-Ray.

Merlin returned quickly enough, grabbing another stack of tapes along with him.

"Well, permission granted for our movie marathon. I told him Eric Hudson is currently a suspect, so we're watching the tapes to see if we can get any more information. Which isn't totally the truth, but…" He shrugged.

Arthur already had the first of the tapes inserted and was letting the projector boot up. "Well, hopefully we'll come out with something to show for this. Hit the lights."

Merlin did, plunging the room into darkness except for the blue glow of the menu screen that was now being projected onto the wall. As the video player kicked in, the blue turned to static. For a good half a minute, they were watching nothing but white noise. Then the footage started.

It was the interior of a car. They had a view of the road through a windshield, with a partial view of the dashboard. Arthur didn't recognize the scenery he was seeing, and Merlin wasn't saying anything either. Someone off-camera started speaking. It was a woman's voice.

"_So, here we are, on our way to Shenandoah National Park. This is our driver, Eric. He's super excited to be here."_

The camera panned over to the driver, who they immediately recognized as Eric Hudson. He didn't say anything, but flipped the middle finger to the camera. It was obviously intended as a joke, because he grinned a moment later.

"_And I will be your host for this trip, my name is Ashley!"_

The camera spun around to face the operator. It was too close, and only got the top half of her face, from her nose up. The young woman had short red hair and green eyes. Even though they couldn't see her mouth on the screen, from the bright expression on her face and the crinkle of her eyes, they could tell she was smiling.

The scene suddenly changed. They were in the forest. Ashley was behind the camera again, taking them on a tour of the pair's campsite. When she got to their tent, her commentary shed some light on their relationship.

"_Our marvelous lodging for the night. Being a city girl myself, I completely admit that I had no part in setting this up. It's all Eric's handiwork. What a dependable big brother!"_

"_Will you stop messing with my camera and come help me? I know you can at least roast a hot dog."_

Eric spoke from somewhere off-screen, probably by the fire pit Ashley had briefly pointed out earlier in the shot, and the camera spun around to face Ashley again, this time getting more of her face as she rolled her eyes, but shut off the camera.

The scene changed again. Now the pair of siblings were on a trail, somewhere. This time, Eric must have had the camera, because Ashley was on the trail in front of him. Neither of them were saying anything, but occasionally Eric would pause to pan the camera around the woods and take in the natural scenery.

Arthur and Merlin watched several hours of footage, everything from silent hikes to sibling banter to a serious conversation while seated on a rock ledge.

"Nothing unusual so far," Arthur murmured. "Do you know this Shenandoah Park?"

"I know it. It's not too close, though. Instead, I'm thinking we should look into contacting his sister. They seem close. Maybe she knows what happened."

It was a solid suggestion, but a feeling in Arthur's gut told him that looking for Ashley would get them nowhere.

The scenery on camera changed again.

The pair were hiking again, this time in the dark. Whoever was holding the camera was breathing heavily. They didn't know who it was until the camera turned to look back at Ashley. So it must have been Eric.

"_Are you sure it's this way?"_

She was whispering, her eyes focused somewhere above the camera, not looking at it directly.

"_It has to be. I know we came this way."_

For several minutes, they didn't say anything else, simply trampling through the underbrush in silence. There was very little to see, as the screen was mostly dark except for when the dim flashlight beam cut into the dark, and even then, it was only a view of plants and dirt path.

"_Oh my god, oh my god. Eric!"_

The camera swung around again to face Ashley, who was looking off into the forest. She was pointing at something in the darkness.

"_I saw it! I saw him again! There's someone following us, I'm not making it up!"_

The camera turned to face the direction she was pointing in, but it picked up nothing but darkness and shadows.

"_There's nothing there. Ashley, there's nothing there! We have to keep going to find our camp!"_

"_No, I saw something, it was watching us, I swear!"_

The camera went black as Eric must have finally switched it off. They let the tape play for a while longer, but that seemed to be the end.

"That's it?" Merlin pulled out the tape. "Well, that's September 6-8. The next one is September 14-15, a week later."

"Pop it in."

This time, as the footage began, they were first shown a shaky screen. They weren't able to make out any features until finally the camera stilled, placed on some sort of stand or solid surface. It turned to face the operator, Eric.

"_I just want to take a moment to record my thoughts about something weird that's been happening."_

He held up his iphone to show the camera.

"_Today's date is September 14, 2013. About a week ago, my sister and I went on a camping trip to Shenandoah Park. Our last night there, we got kind of lost while we were out hiking, and my sister freaked out. She swore someone was following us, but I didn't see anything. I didn't believe her."_

He took a deep breath.

"_But now I kind of do. I've tried calling her multiple times, but she hasn't called back, so I think she's still mad at me. But recently, I can't help but think maybe she was right… Lately, I think someone's been following me. I don't have any proof, but when I'm outside, I swear I've been seeing some guy out of the corner of my eye. When I turn to look, he's gone! And no one else ever sees him!"_

He picked up the camera, and took it with him to the window, where he used it to peek outside. The street was dark with only the dim street lights for lighting, but there was nothing to be seen.

"_I know I sound crazy, but I swear I'm not. That's why I've decided to try using my camera to see if I can get the bastard on film. If I could just figure out who the hell he is, I could show the police or something."_

He turned the camera back around to face him. Abruptly, the scene changed. It was daylight. They watched as he pointed the camera out the window again, this time able to view much more of the street scenery below his apartment, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Arthur and Merlin watched as he brought the camera with him, still rolling, to his car. He carried it with him throughout the day. A couple people asked him about it, but he simply told everyone he was working on a project, and they seemed to accept it. The day was uneventful. They fast forwarded through some parts, as there was honestly nothing worth watching.

Finally, it was evening again. Eric was back in his apartment. He wasn't narrating, but had the camera facing him as he made a phone call to someone. He waited a minute, obviously listening to the line ringing with no answer. Finally he spoke.

"_Ashley, it's me again. Listen, I'm really sorry I didn't believe you, but I need you to call me back. Please. It's important. I'll talk to you later."_

He hung up the phone. To the camera, he said, _"She still won't talk to me. I'll try again tomorrow."_

Then he reached up to the camera and the video feed turned to static.

Arthur and Merlin sat still for a moment, both contemplating their own thoughts. One of them reached over to shut off the video.

"I have a bad feeling about Ashley," Merlin finally said.

"I do too. What' the date for the next tape?"

"September 16-22."

"So pretty steady gaps about a week apart each time," Arthur mused. He was anxious to see what else they could learn from the footage, but forced himself to check the time. They had already been watching the footage steadily for several hours. They needed a break, at least to replenish their energy and get some food.

"Shall I put it in?" Merlin asked, already pulling out the tape they'd just finished.

"No. Let's get some food. Do you have anything here at the office? Other than instant coffee?"

"Well… I guess that depends on your definition of food." Merlin said, his voice lilting upwards at the end of his sentence, as though it were more of a question. "Everything we have is instant something-or-other."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Something we can eat that won't kill us."

"Instant noodles?"

A short while later they had returned with cups of spicy shrimp noodles steaming on the table, as they inserted the next tape. Over the course of the afternoon, they witnessed Eric becoming increasingly paranoid. He took the video camera with him almost everywhere, and they watched almost a week's worth of footage of him driving around in his car, going about his day, then returning home at night. They had to fast forward through hours at a time, as there was almost nothing relevant in the footage. Until the end of the tape, the evening of September 22nd.

Eric had the camera positioned to face him as he attempted to call his sister one more time. Just like before, she didn't pick up the phone and he left a message. When he finished his call, he faced the camera and took a deep breath.

"_Ashley hasn't so much as updated her facebook since our camping trip, let alone answered my calls. I'm beginning to get really worried about her. I think something might have happened. She doesn't even live near any other family members. Tomorrow, I'm going to drive up to visit her, just to make sure she's okay."_

Then he reached up to turn the camera off. The footage ended there.

Merlin sighed. "This is starting to play out like the unedited footage for a badly-made found-footage horror film."

Arthur stretched, standing up from his chair to work out his stiff limbs. He didn't say anything, but he agreed with Merlin. The fact that one of their possible leads into the case of the missing children was missing himself, but had conveniently filmed the days leading up to his own disappearance was incredibly suspicious. But for the moment, there wasn't much they could do, aside from continuing to look through the footage.

But it was late. Even after fast-forwarding through most of it, they had still had to watch almost a week's worth of unedited video footage. The police office was mostly dark—aside from a few officers who had the night shift, everyone else had already gone home. Small town police stations were certainly different from those in big cities, where crime was happening around the clock and there was always some kind of commotion going on as the late hours meant more drunk people and rowdier crowds. Here, it was deceptively peaceful.

Arthur turned to look at Merlin. The dark haired officer was obviously tired, his eyes drooping, his head supported by his hands. But he'd yet to even suggest going home for the night. He was likely prepared to pull an all-nighter to get through the footage. He had to admire the other man's dedication.

But they needed rest. They couldn't afford to miss important details because they were half-asleep trying to watch everything all at once. And if Merlin wouldn't say it, Arthur would. "We should call it a night, I think."

Merlin's sat up straight. "But, Arthur—"

The agent shook his head. "We need to be alert. There's still days' worth of footage left. We can't half-ass this thing."

Merlin sighed and glanced at the watch on his wrist. Arthur knew he'd won when Merlin's shoulders slumped and he nodded.

"I'll meet you back here bright and early tomorrow. 8 o'clock."

After Merlin's reluctant agreement, they left the office, stepping out into unseasonably chilly night air. A spine-tingling prickle on the back of Arthur's neck gave him pause to stop and look around. It was that same feeling of being watched. As if Eric Hudson's paranoia was rubbing off on him. But he didn't see anything, and passed his shiver off as a reaction to the cold weather. He ignored the thought that whatever Eric thought was following him, whatever had taken the children, was still out there somewhere.

And whatever it was might be watching them.

* * *

Hi everyone! This chapter is a little short, but I wanted to get something out. Sorry for another long gap between updates, I had been hoping to get in an update before Halloween, but that didn't happen.

This chapter was mostly focused on Eric and his mysterious footage, which is somewhat inspired by the Youtube series "Marble Hornets." Though it can be kinda slow at some points, if you're into Slender Man and enjoy found-footage movies, I'd recommend watching it! But hopefully the next chapter will be more of Arthur and Merlin out investigating.

Belatedly: Happy Halloween! I hope my readers had spooky and enjoyable evenings. And thanks to those of you who wished me luck with my job hunt. I have been working part-time for over a month now, and I've just interviewed for a full-time position that seems really promising! Keep your fingers crossed for me!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Alexandria Times**

**September 27, 2013**

_Authorities are currently investigating the disappearance of 26-year-old Ashley Hudson, reported missing by brother Eric Hudson last week, after being unable to get in contact with her for several days. According to Eric, she was last seen when they went on a camping trip together in Shenandoah National Park, where she had suspected they were being followed by unknown persons. Coworkers claim she never showed up to work the following Monday._

_Ashley Hudson is 5'6" with red hair and green eyes. If you have any information regarding her whereabouts, please call 800-555-0743._

* * *

When Arthur arrived at the station the next morning, it was to see Merlin deep in conversation with the young woman who was always at the front desk. She said something to him, and he nodded seriously, but she abruptly stopped speaking as soon as she spotted Arthur, and walked away.

"What was that about?" Arthur asked as he approached his temporary partner.

Merlin gave him a falsely innocent look. "What was what about?"

Arthur nodded in the direction the curly-haired young woman had gone. "She was talking to you about something, it seemed serious."

"Oh, Gwen?" Merlin smiled and shrugged. "Nothing important, honestly."

Arthur peered at him. He could tell the dark-haired man wasn't telling him something, but this time, it didn't seem like it was necessarily related to the case, which meant that he had no right to pry, as much as it irked him that Merlin would be keeping something from him.

"Well, in any case, I was considering our next step. It honestly doesn't take more than one person to go through all those tapes, so I was thinking I would head to Shenandoah to check out the campsite where they stayed. At the moment, as far as we can tell, that's where this whole thing started. Maybe I could get a look at the list of people staying the same time they were there, ask the locals if they'd noticed anything unusual."

Merlin crossed his arms. "So we're splitting up? And you're leaving me with the boring job of watching Eric sit in a room for hours and hours?"

"There _is_ a fast-forward button, _Mer_lin. I'm sure you'll survive."

And that was how Arthur found himself on the road shortly thereafter. He kept the radio off as he sorted through all the facts about the case in his mind.

If they were to build a timeline, disregarding the missing children from the past cases, and assuming that Ashley was the first of the current victims, then the first known disappearance would be in September, 2013. Eric would be the next, in November. Then Andrew in February, 2014. Followed by Matthew in March, Maria in May, and finally Scott in June. The gaps ranged from 1-3 months apart, with the largest gap being between Eric and Andrew. The switch from taking an adult to taking a child. What was the significance?

Putting rational thought on hold and assuming for a moment that it was the supernatural creature, Slender Man, why would he first go after Eric and his sister, then abduct four unrelated children?

Looking at past cases, abducting children without a trace was the usual modus operandi, but then why go after Eric and Ashley? Maybe they knew something or saw something they shouldn't have. Arthur felt like visiting the campsite that seemingly instigated their disappearances would provide him with some answers.

It took about an hour to get to the foot of the mountain, and another 40 minutes of driving up long, winding mountain roads. The weather began to worsen as he ascended towards the dense, overcast clouds. Even though it was early in the day, it looked closer to evening. Despite that, he drove past a fair number of cars. It was summer, after all. Peak camping season.

His phone rang, and he answered on his Bluetooth.

"Pendragon," he said curtly, down to business.

"It's Merlin. Lis…n, we just got the confirmation—Ashley has …n missing since she and Eric got back from their c….ing trip!"

"Merlin the service is bad up here, you're breaking up."

"Sorry, I'll be quick. ….rding to the file, Eric was the one who reported her mis…g, and his testimony says that he dropped her… at her apartment, but that was the last time anyone saw... He was even considered a suspect in… disappearance until the apartment security cameras confirmed that he… her home, and then she left the building again an hour later. She never came back. He also talks about… his tapes, blaming himself for what's happened."

"How far have you gotten in the tapes?"

"Not far, ju… another day and a half."

"Well, keep going. I've just arrived, so I'll see what I can find out from the park service rangers. Thanks for the update."

Arthur hung up the phone, and stepped out of the car.

The station adjacent to the small parking lot was a fairly typical, cabin-style building, designed to be welcoming to visitors, but practical enough for the mountain staff to use all year long, under a variety of weather conditions.

He climbed the wooden steps and pushed open the creaking door. The inside was nothing unusual, a front desk with a single computer, all sorts of gear scattered behind it. The wall nearest the door was lined with informational brochures, offering information on everything from mountain safety to local wildlife.

"Can I help you?" asks the bespectacled middle-aged woman behind the desk.

He flips open his ID. "Arthur Pendragon, FBI. I called ahead. I'm here to get information about Eric and Ashley Hudson, a brother and sister who stayed here about a year ago."

She blinked. "Do you know the exact dates they were here?"

"It would have been a weekend in early September, the 6th through the 8th."

She began typing something into the computer, then clicked through various screens.

"Here they are. Hudson, two people, campsite 23. They booked the site for the night of the 6th through the morning of the 9th, but left early the evening of the 8th."

"Does it say why?"

She shook her head. "It wouldn't say here. But I can find out who was on duty that weekend, and see if they might remember." She looked up at him over the rims of her glasses. "Though, it has been a year, so I wouldn't get your hopes up. A lot of people come through here, you know."

"Can't hurt to try," Arthur said with a glower, mentally urging her to get on with it.

She shrugged and began typing something into the computer again.

"Here we go. Ralph and Owain were on duty the night the Hudsons checked out. And you're in luck, Owain is here today."

Arthur sighed. Finally a bit of luck. "Would I be able to talk to him?"

As she grabbed the radio to call for Owain, Arthur looked around a bit more. The station, while equipped with tools and medical supplies to handle minor emergencies, wasn't exactly equipped with a security system, aside from a CCTV camera to record the inside of the station and the road immediately outside, to keep track of incoming and outgoing traffic. If someone were to hike into the park from another point, there would be no way of knowing.

Arthur felt a prickle on his neck, a creeping sensation that he was starting to become familiar with. The sensation of being watched. He turned to look out the window. It faced onto the small parking lot. Beyond that was the forest. He didn't see anyone. But somehow he knew there was someone—or something—there, all the same.

"Owain's heading down here right now," said the woman. "He'll just be a few minutes. Make yourself comfy."

There were no chairs or seating available—the cabin was too small for that. So he wasn't sure what she meant by "make yourself comfy," but he decided to wait outside, which was better than sitting in and being ignored by her as she went back to whatever it was she was doing. Arthur wouldn't be surprised if she was browsing facebook, she didn't seem like the most motivated individual.

Outside, it was uncommonly chilly for summer in the mountains. The clouds blocking out the sun and hanging low in the sky made him wonder if it was going to start raining again. He really hoped not. He hated winding mountain roads in general, but even more so when it was raining.

He ignored the persistent urge to turn and find the eyes that were undoubtedly on him, as he waited for Owain. The ranger showed up soon enough, pick-up truck pulling into the small lot.

A young man, probably close to Arthur's age, stepped out of the vehicle. He squinted at Arthur.

"Would you be Agent Pendragon?"

Arthur nodded, flashing his badge once more. "Owain? Sorry, I didn't get your full name."

"Owain Knight."

"Thank you for taking the time to answer some of my questions." He pulled out a couple of photos of the Hudson siblings. "I was wondering if you might be able to remember anything about these two? Eric and Ashley Hudson, siblings. They stayed here for a weekend last September, and left a day earlier than they were scheduled to. According to the lovely lady inside, they stayed at campsite 23."

Owain took the photos from Arthur and gave them a long look. "Why are you looking for them?"

"Ashley went missing immediately after their camping trip. Eric went missing soon after. We suspect their disappearances are related to a larger group of missing people."

Owain tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"You know, I think I do remember these two. They came to the ranger's station late one night, telling us that something in the woods was chasing them. Gave them quite a fright apparently. Of course, we have all kinds of wildlife out here. Most animals don't come very close to humans, let alone chase them, but it isn't unheard of. We thought a black bear might have gotten a whiff of some food they had packed or something. Took a look around the trail they hiked, but we never found anything. Still, the two were spooked and they checked out that night, I remember that much."

"Would you be able to show me the trail where they said they saw a bear?"

"I don't know what you think you'll find there, but sure. It was actually just across the road from their campsite, I can point it out to you on our trail map," he said, pulling out a fold-out map from one of his pockets.

Spreading it out on the hood of his truck, he pointed to a large dot marked _Station Entrance. _"This is where we are right now," he explained. Then he trailed his finger up the road and when it split into two directions, he followed the left route, passing by lot of other numbered dots until finally stopping at 23. "This was their campsite." He then pointed to a trail marker adjacent to the campsite. _Eaton Hollow Overlook Trailhead_. "And this is where they claim they were followed by something."

Arthur nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right, I don't think I'll find much, but I've come up all this way. It couldn't hurt to take a look." He glanced back up at Owain. "Do you remember anything else? Anything they might have said, anything odd you noticed?"

The ranger appeared to be thinking for a moment. He sighed. "You know… It's been so long, I really don't know if I'm remembering it right. But. I could have sworn Ashley said something like, 'It's supposed to only follow children.'" Arthur's head shot up, but Owain didn't notice, continuing, "I didn't really understand what she was trying to say. I mean, if you do happen to meet a bear, it doesn't matter how old you are."

"Did she say anything else?" Arthur asked, desperate for even a little more information.

But Owain shook his head. "Not that I can recall, sorry."

He let out the breath he was holding. "Well, I should be thankful you remember anything from that long ago. I do appreciate it, really."

The ranger shrugged. "Of course. I hope it helps." He took a step back towards his truck, folding up the map. "Was there anything else?"

"No, I think I just need to get a look at the campsite. Thanks again for your cooperation."

"No problem. Just to warn you though, there is a chance of rain today, and maybe even lightning. Don't be out on the trail too long." Owain tipped his hat to Arthur, before getting back in his truck and pulling away.

Arthur soon followed suit, getting back into his car, and taking the route that Owain had pointed out to him on the map. It wasn't a huge camp; after the first split in the road, it became a one-way loop that he simply had to follow until he spotted the wooden post marking campsite 23.

His luck was holding, at least somewhat. The campsite was currently vacant.

Parking his car in the designated spot for that site, he stepped out warily. He no longer knew what to expect. Logically, any potential clues would be long-gone. But this wasn't exactly a logical case.

And now he had to consider that they might be looking into the wrong sibling. They thought it had started with Eric, but what if Ashley was the real key? She did disappear first, after all.

His eyes swept the campgrounds, taking in the layout. A firepit, a flat open area for any tent or trailer, a food locker, and a water spigot. The entire area was littered with twigs and leaves from the surrounding trees, and it was private enough that you probably wouldn't be bothered by your neighbors unless they were really rowdy and obnoxious.

He tried to picture the siblings from the video. Ashley running around with her camera, Eric cooking dinner over the firepit…

He crossed the road to the trail head. Here, too, there is nothing to hint at it being anything other than your average mountain trail. He's not wearing good hiking shoes, but he decided that it couldn't hurt to wander in a little ways.

The trail is not too wide, but easily big enough for a single person. At some points, it's wide enough for two or three people at a time. He's passed by an older couple who look oddly at his suit, but say nothing. They smile and nod in greeting, then continue on.

He's alone again.

It isn't the best day for a hike. The sun was blocked out, the wind whistled eerily through the trees. That sense of paranoia, of being watched by someone he couldn't see, crept in on him again, but he kept walking. The path was full of twists and turns and ups and downs as it navigated the forest in the most unobtrusive way possible, but that just meant that at every turn, every corner, he expected to come face to face with his unseen follower.

He was beginning to consider heading back the way he'd come, when he spied a sign of some sort ahead on the trail. If it was a map of some sort, he could check how far he'd come, he thought. But as he drew closer, he realized that it wasn't a map or signpost or really anything that belonged on the trail. It was a piece of paper. Torn from a notebook, with a message scribbled onto it with black pen, exactly like all the others they had found so far.

Behind him, a twig snapped.

He spun around on the pathway to face the way he'd come, but there was nothing.

Taking a slow breath in and out, he calmed his racing heart. Arthur was a professional, with years of experience, but here he was, getting worked up over a normal forest sound. It could have been an animal, or something falling from one of the trees, or anything really.

He was turning back to examine the piece of paper when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, the unmistakable shadow of a person through the trees. He turned, peering through the forest, his eyes on the figure. He began walking towards it slowly, now clearly able to make out the torso and arms and head of what appeared to be a very tall man off in the distance, standing still beneath a looming tree.

Arthur was no longer on the designated path, so he glanced down for a moment to watch his footing. When he glanced up again, the figure was suddenly closer, as if it had disappeared and rematerialized 20 feet away from him. He cried out and took an involuntary step back, tripping over a tangle of roots and falling on his backside.

He was quick to get back on his feet, but when he looked back up, the figure was no longer there. He spun around, checking behind him, checking every direction, pacing a short ways one way and then the other to get a better line of sight and see if whoever it was had simply hidden behind a tree or rock. Or whatever it was. And Arthur was becoming more and more sure that what they were dealing with was not human.

Brief though it was, he'd gotten an actual look at it, and what he saw matched every account they'd come across so far. A tall figure, dressed all in black, a blank, expressionless face. That face haunted him in his mind's eye, as he recalled it even now. How it had no eyes, but somehow pierced him with its gaze nonetheless.

He had to get back to Merlin. They had to figure out a way to stop this thing. Or else he feared the children were not the only ones who would never be found.

* * *

Thoroughly unnerved, he somehow managed the drive back to the station. Arthur found Merlin more or less where he left him.

The officer sat up immediately when he sees him.

"Arthur, you're back! I really have to show you something!" he said at the same time as Arthur goes, "I really have to tell you what happened this morning."

They both paused.

Merlin nodded. "You go first, I can show you after."

Arthur took a deep breath. He was curious about whatever Merlin wants to show him on the tapes, but at the same time, he felt like he was about to go crazy and he really needed to tell someone about what he just experienced without worrying they're going to recommend psychiatric help.

So he told Merlin everything, about arriving at the park, meeting with the ranger, checking out the campsite where the siblings had stayed at, investigating the trail… and his run-in with whatever it was he saw on the trail. Merlin listened in silence.

"I saw him, Merlin. Saw it, whatever. The Slenderman. It was only for a second, but there was no denying that there was a figure standing right in front of me one instant and was gone the next." He shook his head. "Even though I was beginning to accept the idea that we were dealing with something abnormal, I don't think I really believed it myself, not entirely. But now, I don't think I have the luxury of doubting anymore. We're dealing with something supernatural."

Merlin let out a humorless laugh. "Well, I can't argue with you there," he said darkly. "Let me show you what I found."

He began playing some footage. It was a dark room with nothing of note. There was no movement, and one might mistake it for a still frame if it wasn't for the time running in the corner. Arthur wasn't sure of what he was looking at until he realized it was Eric's bedroom.

"He filmed himself sleeping?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah. And to be honest, for good reason. Watch what happens at 2:37."

Arthur squinted at the screen. The time still read 2:36, and he didn't see anything. But once the minute changed, the screen started to flicker as if the camera were malfunctioning. When it stabilized again, the screen now read 3:06.

"Huh, yeah. That was kinda weird."

"Do you see it?" Merlin whispers.

Arthur glanced at him, then back at the screen. It's hard to see, since the lighting is so bad, but he suddenly realized that Eric is not alone in that room anymore. Standing in the corner is the tall, dark figure of a man. Oblivious to any danger, Eric rolls over in his sleep.

Merlin stepped forward and presses fast forward on the tape once more. The figure remains there, unmoving, until the camera apparently malfunctions again at 3:24. When the screen clears, it is 3:53 AM and the figure is gone.

"So it does just watch people in the beginning. But why?"

Merlin crossed his arms and shook his head. "Even though we know what it's doing now, we still have no idea why. But to be honest, I don't think that's our biggest concern anymore."

Arthur sighed. Merlin didn't have to say it. He already knew.

"It looks like I'm going to be next."

* * *

Have any of you seen _The Ring_? I hope you have. But anyway, basically anytime they are driving somewhere in my fic, picture the driving sequence from that movie as she's heading up to the cabin where her niece stayed, and that's basically what I have in mind, haha. Bonus: look up "The Ring Original Score by Hans Zimmer" on Youtube, for some atmospheric background music.

Sorry for another long wait for an update. And thanks to anyone still reading.


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